Wabash Magazine Spring 2016—Change Is Good?!

Wabash M A G A Z I N E

C H A N GE IS GOO D?!

T H E J O U R N A L O F WA BAS H CO L L E G E | S P R I N G 2 016

BILAL JAWED ’17 takes his turn in the IndyCar two-seater during IndyCar and the Liberal Arts in April, sponsored by The Bachelor. Read more on page 18.

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photo by Steve Charles

"THERE’S AN ALCHEMY TO IT" MARK MILES ’76 was named CEO of Hulman & Company—owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) and IndyCar—to make changes.

“I want to get it to the level of its former glory and beyond,” the self-proclaimed “challenge hunter” told WM only weeks before he started at Hulman in 2012.

But how do you find new audiences for the Indianapolis 500, its series and venue, while still appealing to lifelong race fans of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing?”

During three years with Miles at the helm IMS has reclaimed the month of May with a family-friendly road race and made a $90 million investment in the facility.

Attendance is up and TV ratings for the series are improving.

“I think we’re making real progress in the place being more like we know and we want it to be,” the Indianapolis native told a Ball Theater audience during the IndyCar and the Liberal Arts discussion sponsored by The Bachelor in April. “It is going to be an extraordinary 100th running. I’ll come back and eat this microphone if it isn’t sold out, and that hasn’t happened since 1995.”

So how does Miles balance changes with what needs to be preserved?

“There’s an alchemy to it,” Miles said. “You think about what is fundamentally the tradition that this place represents, and what’s just habit.

“We’ve done some things differently. We’ve tweaked qualifying, and we’ve added music—there will be more than 100,000 tickets sold separately for music events during race weekend. That’s what’s new.”

The traditions?

“The parade laps, the flyover, the songs that are sung, the celebrities who are there, and then those cars line up….

When May comes this place lights up just like spring.”

—STEVE CHARLES Editor’s Note: There will be no microphone eating for Miles. The 100th running of the Indy 500 sold out with more than 300,000 fans attending, allowing the TV blackout in central Indiana to be lifted for the first time in 65 years.

CHANGING MEMORY “I’M TRYING to create a more personal connection with the soldiers, to help people understand the gravity of what they did,” says director Jo Throckmorton ’87 of America's Deadliest Battle, his documentary about the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I. The largest independent American offensive in history, the battle left an estimated 110,000 Americans dead or wounded and led to the end of the war.

Yet today it is nearly forgotten by the American public.

Throckmorton’s advisors on the project hope the film and centennial observances of World War I will change that.

Historian Rob Dalessandro recalls Laurence Stallings’ book The Doughboys: “Stallings bemoans the fact that if you asked any child in America in 1940 what the pivotal battle was in American history, that child would have said Meuse-Argonne. By the fall of 1945, a child might answer Normandy or the Battle of the Bulge.

World War I was forgotten—all those people who perished for America were forgotten.

“I’d like us to redeem this—and have children today at least know where the Meuse-Argonne was and know that we fought there.”

Throckmorton adds: “By focusing on a small number of soldiers, I hope the film will help people realize these men not only fought for their country, but they were a band of brothers, committed to one another.”

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photo by Steve Charles

The film, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission, will have a permanent home, shown on the large screen at the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery in France, where more than 14,000 American soldiers are buried.

Read more on page 29.

AMERICAN SOLDIERS ADVANCE THROUGH MACHINE-GUN FIRE AND ARTILLERY with the help of a Renault FT-17 tank during a scene from Jo Throckmorton’s documentary. Many of the "actors" in the film are soldiers from the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment—known as the "Old Guard."

CONTENTS SPRING 2016

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

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26

32

David Woessner ’01 and Local Motors say “the car as we know it must die.”

Jim Dreher ’85 “sniffs out” opportunities in medical technology.

Wabash prepared Eric Eversole ’94 to help veterans find meaningful work.

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REVOLUTION

REBIRTH Playing the ”heart and soul” of his biggest film yet, Reynaldo Pacheco ’06 rediscovered his own.

A SINGULAR VISION

ONE OF THE GRANDEST CHALLENGES Stephen Jay ’60 on climate change and the need to act now.

HIRING OUR HEROES

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SLOWING DOWN THE PROCESS Anne Walsh takes a team and liberal arts approach to investing.

COVER

WM Graphic Designer BECKY WENDT rendered this close-up of Jim Dreher ’85 from a photo taken as he was cutting through Los Angeles traffic and talking with WM writer Rich Paige about the promise and pitfalls of the medical technology industry.

(A Singular Vision, page 26) photo by STEVE CHARLES

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photo by Kim Johnson

SWOOP AND SWIM­­­—This ground level photo taken at Local Motors’ National Harbor, MD, facility shows off the lines of the LM3D Swim, the modern take on the beach buggy poised to become the first 3D printed car to go on sale to the public.

DEPARTMENTS 3 “THERE’S AN

ALCHEMY TO IT”

Mark Miles ’76

22 A MAN’S LIFE

Mountain Man

by Matthew Vollmer

4 “CHANGING MEMORY”

Jo Throckmorton ’87

29 ALUMNI GALLERY:

MAKING IT REAL

Jo Throckmorton ’87

9 ONLINE NOW 10 CONTRIBUTORS 11 BEHIND THE STORIES 12 FROM THE EDITOR 13 FROM OUR READERS 15 FROM CENTER HALL

Hardware

by President Gregory Hess 16 MOMENTS

41 SPEAKING OF SPORTS

Zechariah Banks ’16

Matt Dickerson ’16 43 WORKS IN PROGRESS

Patrick Kenney ’18

Fabian House ’16 44

SEASONS IN SPORTS Riley Lefever ’17 Devin Broukal ’18 Nick Bova ’17 Daniel Purvlicis ’16 Marcus Kammrath ’16 Austin Burton ’16 Aaron Embree ’19

46 CLASS NOTES

World War I at Wabash

Back on Campus Dennis Dean ’73: What Makes Life Worthwhile

Grunge Report Change IS Good!

From the NAWM “What Are You Going To Do Next?”

From the Archives A Greater Threat Than War

In Memory 64

VOICES Greg Hoch ’94 Tim Padgett ’84 Colin Thompson ’17 Stephen Batchelder ’15 Derek Andre ’16 Carrie Newcomer

67 FACULTY NOTES

Lon Porter

Christie Byun

Dennis Krause

Deborah Seltzer-Kelly

Adriel Trott

Bronwen Wickkiser

Rick Warner

Derek Nelson ’99

Eric Olofson 74 END NOTES

Hazing and the Pharaoh’s Burden

by Richard Gunderman ’83 LAST GLANCE

A New Home for Wabash Men

SPRING 2016 | 7

Wabash M A G A Z I N E

Wabash College educates men to think critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live humanely.

THE JOURNAL OF WABASH COLLEGE | SPRING 2016 www.wabash.edu/magazine

EDITOR, WABASH MAGAZINE Steve Charles H’70 765-361-6368 | charless@wabash.edu DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING, ART DIRECTOR Kim Johnson 765-361-6209 | johnsonk@wabash.edu CLASS NOTES EDITOR Karen Handley 765-361-6396 | handleyk@wabash.edu ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING Richard Paige 765-361-6377 | paiger@wabash.edu GRAPHIC DESIGNER Rebecca Wendt 765-361-6026 | wendtb@wabash.edu DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Howard Hewitt 765-361-6087 | hewitth@wabash.edu DIRECTOR OF SPORTS INFORMATION Brent Harris H’03 765-361-6165 | harrisb@wabash.edu DEAN FOR COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT Michelle Janssen 765-361-6152 | janssenm@wabash.edu DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI AND PARENT PROGRAMS Steve Hoffman ’85 765-361-6371 | hoffmans@wabash.edu CHIEF OF STAFF AND DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS Jim Amidon ’87 765-361-6364 | amidonj@wabash.edu CONTRIBUTING GRAPHIC DESIGNER Rebecca Otte CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jim Amidon, Steve Charles, Howard Hewitt, Kim Johnson, Richard Paige, Patti Perret, Geoffrey Riccio, Colin Thompson ’17 ADMISSIONS INFORMATION 765-361-6405 / 800-345-5385 WABASH ALUMNI CLUBS 765-361-6369 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Alison Baker, author, Lancaster, VA Greg Britton ’84, Editorial Director, Johns Hopkins University Press Austin Brooks ’61, Professor Emeritus of Biology Melissa Butler H’85, Professor Emerita of Political Science Elizabeth Swift, archivist Tim Padgett ’84, America’s Correspondent, WLRN-Miami Herald Eric Freeze, Associate Professor of English Richard Elson ’69, filmmaker Mark Shreve ’04, Account Executive, Smallbox, Indianapolis, IN Dan Simmons ’70, author, Longmont, CO Evan West ’99, Senior Editor, Indianapolis Monthly Wabash Magazine is published by the Office of Publications, Hovey Cottage, P.O. Box 352, Crawfordsville, IN 47933-0352.

We welcome your comments, criticisms, and suggestions.

Contact the editor at 765-361-6368 or by email: charless@wabash.edu

Wabash College

ONLINE NOW WABASH.EDU/MAGAZINE

24 It takes a big printer to make a car! This close-up captures just half the machine used to create the LM3D Swim at Local Motors in National Harbor, MD.

WATCH IT! David Woessner ’01 drives 3D-printed car.

HEAR IT! Warren Rosenberg recalls favorite Wabash moments.

SEE IT! Behind the scenes photos, interviews, and video from Jo Throckmorton’s WW I documentary.

READ IT! All American Mason Zurek ’16 reveals his treasured possession.

Plus Chapel talks, updated class and faculty news, and Wabash On My Mind podcasts. photo by Kim Johnson

All at WM Online: wabash.edu/magazine

SPRING 2016 | 9

CONTRIBUTORS

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We’ve reprinted the writing of Dr. Rick Gunderman ’83 from The Atlantic Monthly, his books and speeches, but this issue’s End Notes piece is the first written specifically for WM. “Hazing and the Pharaoh’s Burden” is inspired by and dedicated to one of his favorite Wabash teachers, Professor Hall Peebles H’63, affectionately known by generations of Wabash men as “Yahweh.”

It’s been three years since Matthew Vollmer worked with students in the College’s creative writing program, but his words have kept him with us. “An Imperfect Gentleman” in WM Winter 2014 was one of our most compelling A Man’s Life essays, and Matt returns to this issue with an equally insightful piece. Teaching is as important to him as writing: Earnings from A Book of Uncommon Prayer, the critically acclaimed anthology Matt edited in 2015, were donated to 826 Valencia, whose free programs support underresourced students 6 to 18 with their writing skills.

Few journalists understand Cuba better than Tim Padgett ’84, who for decades has covered events on the island nation and throughout Latin America as an award-winning reporter for Newsweek, TIME Magazine, and now as Americas Correspondent for National Public Radio affiliate WLRN-Miami and the Miami Herald. Tim brought those insights to bear on President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba, and we’ve reprinted an excerpt in this issue’s Voices.

Greg Hoch ’94 supervises the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources prairie habitat team, a vocation inspired by Professor Emeritus of Biology David Krohne.

Greg also follows in his mentor’s footsteps as a writer, with nearly 50 magazine articles in print, and his first book—Booming from the Mists of Nowhere— was published last fall

by Bur Oak Press. We’ve excerpted “Letter to an Old Friend” in this issue’s Voices.

RICK GUNDERMAN ’83

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MATTHEW VOLLMER

TIM PADGETT ’84

GREG HOCH ’94

BEHIND THE STORIES

photo by Geoffrey Riccio www.riccioproductions.com

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32 SMALL WORLD WABASH We had no idea another alum was part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative until we noticed the word “trucking” on program president Eric Eversole’s whiteboard in his Washington, DC, office.

“Working with Jim Ray ’94 on that,” Eric said. “Do you know him?”

We do—but we didn’t know that.

Jim’s FASTPORT firm has helped hundreds of veterans find jobs.

— K IM JOHNSON AND STEVE CHARLES

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ALMOST DIDN’T HAPPEN When you read about rising senior Riley Lefever’s third NCAA DIII title, remember he nearly quit wrestling in high school.

He stayed because his brothers loved the sport, and he loved his brothers and teammates, and that re-ignited his passion for wrestling.

—BRENT HARRIS

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“ KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING?”

MEETING GEORGE MICHAEL

Spend time with Jim Dreher ’85 and you quickly discover that he is a hurricane of activity.

He thinks quickly, too. He’ll punctuate a statement with, “Do you know what I’m saying?”

Makes sure you’re keeping up.

Then it hits you…this is what makes this guy successful. At no point does anyone associated with Jim not understand the vision, the mission, or the goal.

It seemed like it would be an ordinary photo session with Professor of Economics Christie Byun until I found out that George Michael would be there... and that George Michael is a snake!

Byun's husband, Professor of Political Science Ethan Hollander even convinced Christie to let us photograph her with the snake around her neck. I will stay behind the lens, thank you.

—RICHARD PAIGE

—KIM JOHNSON

29 PERFECT TIMING Folks tells me this photo looks like a real battle. It ought to.

When I arrived on set for Jo Throckmorton’s WWI film, he said, “Good timing. We’re about to shoot the main attack scene.”

Soon the tank was rolling, soldiers charged, and I was next to the video camera the action had been created for. All I had to do was press the shutter!

—STEVE CHARLES

SPRING 2016 | 11

FROM THE EDITOR

C H ANGE IS GOOD?!

The theme for this edition was inspired by words Andrea James ’87 spoke to students last fall.

The punctuation was provided by speakers and events this past winter.

For Andrea, the murder of a friend—a hate crime dramatized in the 2003 film Soldier’s Girl—was the catalyst for her becoming a more outspoken advocate to change hearts and minds toward transgender people.

Change is good.

Dennis Dean ’73 spoke about a near-death experience that sparked a “work smarter, not harder” change in his life that led to the most important discoveries of his scientific career.

Change is revelation!

Stephen Jay ’63 cited the science of climate change as “compelling,” and then called it “the grandest challenge in human history.”

“We are the first generation to fully understand the implications of what’s happening,” Jay said.

“And we are, according to the best and brightest of 70,000 climate scientists worldwide, the last generation that can do something about it.”

Is it too late to change?

IF CHANGE IS LIFE’S constant, our response to it defines us.

On campus we were drawn into such a time February 17 when students, faculty,

and staff were told to “shelter in place” as law enforcement officials searched campus in the wake of a tragedy that was unfolding elsewhere.

It’s not the way any place wants to be in the news, and after hearing the “all clear” and offering our condolences to the families involved, others might have been tempted to move on as if nothing had happened.

But not a place that understands that we learn, as Professor of Religion Derek Nelson ’99 says, “not from our experience, but from reflecting on our experiences.”

The College provided counseling to students, faculty, and staff and asked Professor Nelson to speak at an all-campus Chapel Talk. His words (see page 21) helped us each begin to work through our unanswerable questions and grief in our own time, our own way.

challenging, and, at times, surprising. Changes you will notice in this issue based on their suggestions include more focus on alumni, shorter (but more) feature stories, and increased opportunities for reader contributions, all presented with the quality, excellence, and personal perspective readers say they value in WM. You will also find more content than ever— updated stories, photos, audio, and video— at WM Online , ou r mu lt i med ia site: wabash.edu/magazine Please consider this the beginning of a conversation. Tell me what you think, what we’re missing, what you’d like to see more or less of. Your generosity—your willingness to share your own stories, invest your time in reading those of others—has built this magazine for two decades. Thank you for working with us.

THE CHANGES we are working through at Wabash Magazine pale in comparison. As we looked to redesign WM, we wanted to know what you, our readers, considered most important.

I’m deeply grateful to the nearly 1,500 readers who participated in a comprehensive survey to help us make WM an even stronger connection between you and the Wabash community.

These responses were affirming, intriguing,

And thanks for reading, STEVE CHARLES

Editor | charless@wabash.edu

SURVEY RESULTS Words chosen by alumni asked, "What does Wabash Magazine mean to you?"

Brotherhood

History

Inspiration

Liberal Arts

Connection Memories

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Pride

92%

98%

90%

12%

rated feature story topics "excellent or "good"

said "WM strengthens my personal connection with the college"

Read in Print

Read Online

(with some unaware we even had online extra content)

FROM OUR READERS

Why Small Schools Are Important When I learned last week that my fraternity cook, Sherry Hilsabeck, had died, I decided to join Leslie and Brandon Peacock ’04 in Crawfordsville to pay my respects to her family.

It was one of those moments I’m thankful to have pushed excuses aside and made an appearance.

It was a typical visitation—friends mingling about, sharing stories, waiting their turn to speak to family. The funeral parlor had a fireplace with a mantle displaying family photos, not unlike you’d find in any house. But beneath these frames were Phi Psi composite photos from all 14 years Sherry served as our cook. Among her grandchildren's artwork were the thumbnail photos of young men their grandmother had fed daily with biscuits and gravy or other “volume food.”

We greeted her husband, Bud, who during my time at Wabash had made a daily visit to our house to check in on Sherry, but also the guys. He and Sherry knew our parents, attended football games, celebrated Monon Bell victories and initiations.

"She really loved you guys, you know that?”

Bud said. “She loved working at the house and at Wabash. She was really proud of you, you know."

During 14 years with more than 20 kids per pledge class, Sherry had an impact in shaping more than 300 alumni. There are few who can participate so closely in college AND fraternity events AND know the men on a deeply personal level.

In Memory 38%

Feature Stories 44%

60%

Class Notes

"Must-have" CONTENT

Cherish Their Memory In a small college, every member of the community becomes a teacher.

Leslie handed Bud a framed photograph we found after hearing the news of Sherry’s passing.

It showed our senior class in front of the fraternity fireplace when Sherry decided to serve a steak dinner and roast the graduating seniors with stories. We were the first freshman class she knew. That was her fourth year, too, and should have been her Wabash graduation, but she decided to stay on for another decade.

Bud placed the picture on the mantle next to a family portrait of their three kids.

I was reminded of yet another reason why small schools are important.

I read the Winter edition of WM with mixed emotions. Apart from enjoying all the fascinating articles, I was saddened to read about the passing of so many alumni whom I knew and remembered well. Fred Massena ’49! Charlie Lytle ’53! Pete Schma ’53! Paul Tippett ’53!

Wade Fredrick ’54! Vince Grogg ’55! There was a familiar name on page after page of the Memory section.

I could tell you stories about each one of them when they were in their late teens or early 20s and my husband and I were their mentors and chaperones.

I find it hard to believe that they are gone when I’m still around. But I cherish their memory.

— MARK SHREVE ’04 Indianapolis, IN

— JEAN WILLIAMS H’53 Crawfordsville, IN

And yet another reason why WM readers who took our survey ranked In Memory and Class Notes among the essential sections of the magazine. In a small community we mean more to one another than we realize.

Mark’s words bring that home here, even as he and Smallbox Creative helped guide our survey and efforts to redesign the magazine.

Thanks, Mark.

—The editors

89% of respondents read every or most issues Class Notes and In Memory ranked 1st and 3rd in “must-have” content

80% read or skim most stories in each issue

90%

believe four times/year is just right

90%

name magazine as main source for receiving College news

SPRING 2016 | 13

FROM OUR READERS A Man’s Life

OREGON TRAIL

Inflight Entertainment Like many people who love to read, I keep a folder of reading material for long, uninterrupted stretches of time. The five-hour flight I'm on today from Cleveland to San Francisco was such an opportunity. WM was much more than a diversion. It was a highly valued companion within the first 10 minutes of the trip and for hours afterward.

Joe Wilkins (A Man’s Life, “Oregon Trail”) and David Krohne (“Remember Esetuk”) are excellent bookends for this edition. Jake Eagan's story [about students assisting Half-Way Home addiction treatment center] reminds every alumnus of our own College-community connections, which for some were powerful and even life-changing.

As usual, the magazine strikes a fine balance between Wabash student life, faculty activities, sports, alumni contributions, and—one of my favorites—Voices. Yes, I could hear and relate to Tom Campbell's pain, search for familiarity, and

I believe it to be one of my first and foremost duties as a father: to give my children, as best I can, this place.

End Notes

—by Joe Wilkins

“We learned at Esetuk what the edge looked like.”

WIND IN THE LIMBS OF THE OAKS, last night’s rain raining down once more with every shaking of the branches.

Along the creek bottom sword ferns and tangles of blackberry drip with morning mist. Underfoot, from most any old sidewalk crack, moss the color of lime flesh fairly bursts—in spite of, or, ecologically speaking, because of, the steel wool of the sky.

This is the drizzly mile and a half I walk or bike each morning to work, a small slice of the Willamette Valley of Oregon, a broad alluvial plain bordered by three mountain ranges—the Cascades, the Calapooyas, and the Coast Range—and running a hundred miles from the confluence of the Coast and Middle forks to the river’s mouth on the Columbia. Three hundred years ago much of this verdant, riverine flatland was oak savanna, the native peoples of the area, the Kalapuya, setting seasonal fires to clear the understory. The grass grew thick and tall then, and the Kalapuya hunted the plentiful deer and elk, tended camas in the creek bottoms, hauled salmon from the waters. It was a good country, an easy country that for its verdancy quickly attracted the attention of white settlers. (Many of the earliest explorers’ reports note that the natives of the Pacific Northwest were unusually healthy, even a bit overweight, though not long after first contact they were decimated by disease.)

Remember that old floppy-disk computer game The Oregon Trail? Well, if you survived that sure bout of dysentery and didn’t break too many wagon wheels, this was where you landed—this was what you won: the Willamette Valley, no longer an oak savanna but a fertile hotbed of local and artisan agriculture, pinot noir wineries and organic vegetable farms and plum and cherry orchards down most any county road you

might choose for a Sunday drive. We moved here a year and a half ago—my wife and I and our then three-year-old son and two-year-old daughter—and immediately bought umbrellas, boots, and slickers, for in this rainy place my children loved nothing more than to wander in the fog, to shake a wet branch and drag a stick through a mud puddle, to squat down and study the glistening trails of slugs and snails, to hold, carefully, the rose, and consider the way rainwater dappled and ran down the blossom. They were enchanted. And walking to work each morning, I, too, am enchanted. Yet my enchantment undoes me.

LET ME EXPLAIN:

The valley is only 40 minutes from the coast, which we have visited often since moving. One bright day this summer—as we dared the white waves, then ran laughing up the sand, my children’s small hands in mine—I remember thinking: They will know the ocean, will know verdancy and rain and growth like they know mother and father—as birthrights, as mythic first things, as forces always in their lives. I remember thinking: My children will be beyond me.

I grew up 1,000 miles away, adrift on the high plains of eastern Montana, a rucked and nearly riverless stretch of badlands known as the Big Dry. In winter, the wind came gusting down from Canada, the nighttime temperatures bone-shatteringly cold and the hard, drawn glare of the frozen day a kind of violence.

Each blazing summer was hotter than the last—and drier, the alfalfa coming up thin and spotty, or not at all. It was a place of wind and want, of dust and off in the distance falling-down homesteaders’ shacks.

Wint er 2 0 1 6

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Remember Esetuk —text and photos by David Krohne A ROCK FROM ESETUK sits on my desk. Because places matter.

1977. Once the Prudhoe oil fields were developed, greedy eyes turned east toward the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. My wife Sheryl and I wanted to see it before it was gone.

God, we were young.

Our prior experience amounted to one 10-day backpack in the Sierras.

Right up to the last minute we actually planned to take our two golden retrievers with us.

We wore wool because polypropylene hadn’t been invented yet. We carried prototype rainwear called Gore-Tex. When the Eskimo dropped us off on the shore that afternoon we experienced a novel sensation—the sound of a motor fading into the distance, leaving us alone in the quiet. The finality of that silence—cut off now from the mechanical world. Just a light breeze on a warm, sunny day and country in every direction.

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sense of peace after discovering a constant—the stars—at a tumultuous point in his life.

Finally, imagine a series of stories about Wabash men and brewpubs!

Great human interest and most certainly a salute to several alumni combining passion and entrepreneurship.

Well done.

— JOHN KEREZY ’77 Broadview Heights, OH

“The Love That Stays” In our survey in January, we asked readers: What does WM mean to you?

Among the many responses was this— perhaps the most intriguing: The Welsh word “hiraeth,” which cannot be translated. The magazine takes me back to one of the richest times of my life.

— JIM THOMAS ’52 Penobscot, ME

Diolch yn fawr, Iago.

There is no exact translation, but scholars say perhaps the Portuguese word “saudade” comes closest: “the love that stays” after someone, or something, has gone away. Close?

Da boch chi, —SC

The Poetry in Nature I treat WM’s arrival much the same as I do the monthly editions of Alaska magazine and National Geographic. I put them aside until the quiet of the weekend when I can read them from cover to cover.

As usual, I enjoyed WM, but there were a few items in this issue that particularly caught my attention.

First was my own photograph in the Class Notes. Not a bad smile from an old guy.

The others were the picture of the “Bluebell Valley” and the accompanying story by Beth Swift, as well as “Remember Esetuk” by David Krohne. I enjoyed David’s article because I have had the privilege to travel to Alaska yearly for the past couple of decades and have a sense of the quiet and beauty that he described.

The Beauty in my Those three things are, however, related.

Backyard When I saw the picture of the bluebells my thoughts immediately went to the little book I have that was written by Torkel Korling and Bob Petty, my Wabash mentor. The book resides on a shelf just above where my fingers are plucking away on the computer. I still pull it down every once in awhile to read Bob’s words.

Beth asked a question at the end of her article: “Was Petty a biologist with poetry in him, or a poet who studied biology?”

From the Archives

—Beth Swift, Archivist

Of all of the species photographs, I am

most drawn to one of

a surprisingly familiar

place—I believe it was taken in the woods behind my home.

Bluebell Valley as it bloomed last spring. photo by Jim Swift

THE DECIDUOUS FOREST from the series Wild Plants in Flower is one of my favorite books. Maybe this is because these are the plants that I know best; the flowers from the woods of my childhood.

The photographs by Torkel Korling are beautiful, but I think the reason I like the book so very much is because of the essays and species notes by Robert O. Petty, longtime biology professor here at the College.

Listen to his description of the image on the cover: “Spring light in a young forest, a crowd of trillium above decaying leaves—we have been here before. But long before us, before the millennia of glaciers brought summer as but a taunting of the sun, recurrent drought had shaped evolving strategies—autumn and spring of the deciduous forest, where to survive was to win by loss, or not at all. Slowly our curve of earth tilts south again, and here and there we find the ancient secret.”

I think of Bob Petty’s essays as I drive through the country here. In the spring I pull out my copy and wander into the woods.

But of all of the photographs, I am most drawn to one of a surprisingly familiar place. I believe it was taken in the woods behind my home over three decades ago. My family calls it Bluebell Valley, and it is just gorgeous when completely covered with these lovely blue flowers. A sure sign that summer is on its way.

Yet, as the weather is cooling here, I think about the end of this book: “By October, the forest is burning amber and crimson in the brief evening light. There is a sharp and pungent sweetness to the air—the smell of walnuts. The nights are cold.

“A sudden wind drifts storms of yellow leaves and tumbles fruits and seeds. A night rain breaks the last dead leaves away from ash and maple.

The walnut trees are long since bare—the last to get their leaves, the first to lose them. Here and there in the dry oak woods, a clatter of acorns breaks the stillness. The youngest oak and beech trees wear their dead, russet foliage into winter.

“The wild flowers are only a rumor now. The plants are dormant.

All the ancient strategies are one.”

As I return to this lovely little book each spring I wonder: Was Petty a biologist with poetry in him, or a poet who studied biology?

Winter Winter 22001166

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It is definitely the latter. If you do a Google search for scientific contributions of Bob Petty, the number of hits will be small. If, however, you look back at WM and its predecessors over the years, you will find a number of issues where his words were reproduced or his influence on Wabash men was described. His legacy goes on and on long after his passing, and it is because of his skill with words describing the beauty that surrounded him in the middle of the cornfields of central Indiana.

As I near the end of my career, his influence continues. I have been fortunate to have my name on a large number of scientific articles, but I am sure that few will be cited after I hang it up.

What might be a legacy, however, will be the organization I am developing to conserve native orchids around the world. If that effort is successful, it will be tied to the passion Bob Petty shared with me more than 50 years ago.

There is poetry in nature, and we need to make sure nature is conserved to stimulate future generations. In the end, Wabash helps with all of this by having great teachers who have passion and shape the lives of their students.

— DENNIS WHIGHAM ’66 Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Edgewater, MD Read about the North American Orchid Conservation Center at WM Online.

FROM CENTER HALL

HARDWARE

Today’s constantly changing workplace makes a Wabash education more valuable than ever.

“A Wabash liberal arts education prepares men for the many careers they’re going to have, not the one they thought they would have.”

When I spoke those words on April 21 to more than 170 Wabash men gathered for the inaugural Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men Leadership Breakfast, I was looking at the living proof of my conjecture.

You may feel the same way as you read about the alumni featured in this issue of Wabash Magazine.

Today’s constantly changing workplace makes a Wabash education more valuable than ever. Every industry has been flipped upside down. Whole careers baby boomers once pursued have vanished or radically changed as new fields have emerged. Forrester Research has predicted today’s youngest workers will hold 12 to 15 jobs during their lifetime.

Students need a strong foundation that equips them to be nimble, confident, and adaptive.

The liberal arts does this by creating a great “hardware system” for students—developing their broad-based decision-making, leadership acumen, and ability to be responsible, while keeping in mind others’ points of view in a dignified manner.

You can’t rely only on the software—the degree of training you get for a particular job.

There is a trend these days among families of prospective students to look for training that leads most directly to the first job. That degree might help a young man for a short while, though it may not, and it certainly will not provide him with the tools needed to succeed in the long term.

The pendulums of the job market swing often, and they tend to over-swing. When I grew up in San Francisco, everyone who taught me math was a former engineer, because jobs for engineers had dried up in the early 1970s.

Then came the 1980s and the defense industry picked up, computers evolved, and people had to shift again.

Here at Wabash we are working on a more dependable version of that software—Liberal Arts Plus. These initiatives in Global Health, Entrepreneurship, Public Discourse, and Digital Arts interface a liberal arts education with opportunities to download skills and experiences that translate directly into that first job, even while students are receiving and building the hardware to tackle whatever comes next.

The tremendous capacity of this system is one reason why so many Wabash alumni succeed in fields you would not anticipate, given their majors. Steve Ferguson ’63, a political science major and now chairman of Cook Medical Group, is a great example. Having taken physchem and other science courses certainly helps, but he has to access much more of his brain while overseeing the largest privately held company in Indiana.

The liberal arts creates a great “hardware system” for students, developing their broad-based decision-making, leadership acumen, and ability to be responsible, while keeping in mind others’ points of view in a dignified manner.

In this issue you’ll read about Jim Dreher ’85, a medical device entrepreneur and founder of Option3 LLC. Jim was a French major, but his ability to think critically, move decisively, and take and manage risks stem from his liberal arts education.

Earlier this spring I attended a presentation of projects from the “Ghost in the Machine” class of the Digital Arts and Human Values initiative, where students—most of them not art majors— put into practice the artist’s creative process.

Art requires you to break down your perception of things to see them in a different way, a necessity in today’s world and one of the simple gifts of a liberal arts education.

THE WORLD IS getting tougher. There’s a great hollowing out of the middle; competition is keener than ever. You need to be ready to adapt to ever-changing “software” to thrive.

That agility is readily apparent in the lives of the speakers at April’s inaugural IAWM Leadership Breakfast—Sun King Brewing co-founder Clay Robinson ’97, Indiana Sports Corp President Ryan Vaughn ’00, and Eli Lilly and Company Vice President David Lewis ’81.

You will find it among Wabash alumni across the country and around the world.

Equipped with the hardware system of a liberal arts education, Wabash men embrace the constant change of the 21st century with, as Ryan put it, “the obligation to engage, the responsibility to make an impact, and the confidence to figure it out and contribute.”

Wabash Always Fights!

GREGORY HESS

President L isten to excerpts from the Leadership Breakfast at WM Online.

SPRING 2016 | 15

MOMENTS

WE HAVE A DREAM Paying tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the holiday bearing his name, more than 80 members of the Wabash community took turns reading one of the 81 sentences of Dr. King’s most famous speech. The line of readers stretched from the podium and along three walls of the Chapel, where a group of more than 150 listened.

Watch the video and see photos at WM Online.

Value Your Voice Jack Kellerman ’18 leads a discussion during “Value Your Voice: Redefining Indiana,” a Wabash Democracy and Public Discourse (WDPD) initiative at the Columbus, IN, Learning Center March 22. Invited to Columbus by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, Kellerman and his WDPD colleagues hoped to enhance citizen’s involvement in their communities. In April, WDPD ran a student leadership event—a program developed at Wabash by Anthony Douglas ’17— at the University of Delaware to open a dialogue about race on that campus.

16 | WABASH MAGAZINE

Through the Center for Innovation, Business & Entrepreneurship, Wabash College is leading the conversation in entrepreneurship and serving as a resource for new and innovative ideas.

Dean for Professional Development ALAN HILL, introducing the College’s fifth Entrepreneurship Summit on February 6.

photo by Richard Paige

Leading the Conversation

Read more at WM Online.

How does your brand demonstrate empathy?

TOM DENARI ’85, president, Young & Laramore

How do you turn obstacles into opportunities?

STEM entrepreneur STACY ENXING SENG

Innovations don't have to be high tech.

They can be head slappers, too.

ROD KENLEY ’72, president, Aethlon Medical

Option3 founder and Summit organizer JIM DREHER ’85 with BEN COOK ’14.

3608

number of GIVERS on 4.27

2004

led all alumni classes for THIRD YEAR IN A ROW with 84 donors; the Class of 2015 finished second!

815

NUMBER OF CURRENT STUDENTS WHO MADE GIFTS

$ RAISED 619,292

2019

The 4.27 Day of Giving stands out as the most remarkable day of philanthropy in the history of Wabash College.

led all UNDERGRADUATE classes with 171 students making a gift

SPRING 2016 | 17

MOMENTS

INDYCAR and the LIBERAL ARTS Organized by The Bachelor and given the green flag with IndyCar two-seater rides on the Mall, the event brought together Wabash leaders in IndyCar, including Mark Miles ’76, Hulman & Company president and CEO; the Byrd brothers of the Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality and Restaurant Group and sponsors of the Dale Coyne Racing Team; IndyCar driver Conor Daly; and Curt Cavin (father of Quinn ’19), a longtime motorsports writer for The Indianapolis Star. The panel was moderated by Chris Denari ’83, announcer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network and recently inducted member of the Indiana Sportswriters and Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

photo by Steve Charles DAVID BYRD ’98 and JONATHAN BYRD ’97 talk about their love of racing during April’s IndyCar and the Liberal Arts panel conversation.

HOMECOMING The unique opportunity here is that, despite our long and distinct history here on campus, the men we recruited...have the opportunity to create something new on campus and re-create Delta Tau Delta in a way they see fit.

photo by Kim Johnson

KYLE YARAWSKY, director of growth, Delta Tau Delta. The fraternity returned to campus 69 men strong with a colonization ceremony in the Chapel in February.

Delta Tau Delta Vice President ZACHERY CAMPBELL ’18, CONNOR HOLLRAH, KYLE YARAWSKY, JOSH CLAYTON, and PRESIDENT RENO JAMISON ’17.

photo by Steve Charles

LEARNING BY DOING This is the first studentcurated exhibition the College has ever hosted.

If one accepts the credo that learning is best done by doing, then it should be no surprise the class engaged with this subject more by creating this exhibition than by merely learning about it.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ART ELIZABETH MORTON, opening the “Generations” exhibit in the Eric Dean Gallery in January.

See the exhibit at WM Online.

JACOB ROEHM ’18, KYLE LOUKS ’19, HAI NGUYEN ’17, FORREST LOWERY ’18, COLE CHAPMAN ’16, AND NICK BOVA ’17 curated "Generations: Sculpture in Stone from Zimbabwe."

A SUPERIOR

FACILITY

My wife and I returned to Crawfordsville for the dedication of the Shelbourne Wrestling Center. Certainly anyone associated with Wabash wrestling will be proud. I spoke briefly with Don, and he assured me that Wabash’s new facility should give Coach Brian Anderson a leg up in recruiting on every school in Indiana and most in the nation.

That’s really something to think of Wabash College having a superior facility to most every school in the Big 10!

MARK SUTTON ’68 DR. DON SHELBOURNE ’72 (center) and his family at the dedication of the Shelbourne Wrestling Center, a facility made possible by his gifts and those of other wrestling alumni and their parents. photo by Kim Johnson

SPRING 2016 | 19

MOMENTS

Understated Elegance I discovered that Our Town has never been staged by the Wabash College Theater, so I reread Wilder’s script, and the play came alive for me like never before. It is a masterpiece of understated elegance and simplicity, disguising Wilder’s deep thematic ambitions. Our Town is an extraordinarily humane play that never flinches from showing us how joy and suffering are equal partners in our journey through life. ­ PROFESSOR OF THEATER MICHAEL ABBOTT, — who directed the College’s first staging of the beloved American play in April.

SLAM DUNKS

Western Illinois University Athletic Director Matthew Tanney ’05 (left) and Wabash AD Joe Haklin ’73 (right) share a moment with Professor Emeritus of English Tobey Herzog H’11 during the alumni, faculty, and staff symposium—Wally Hoops: A Slam Dunk Symposium— in February.

See more photos from the symposium at WM Online.

20 | WABASH MAGAZINE

photos by Richard Paige

Dick (left) and Tom Van Arsdale pose for a photo with their father's Hall of Fame induction plaque in the Allen Center.

The Van Arsdales, legendary Indiana basketball standouts who made three NBA All-Star game appearances each in 12-year NBA careers, were on campus February 11 to donate memorabilia to the Athletic Department from their father, Raymond ’23.

The Thin Place of Tragedy On February 17, a tragedy elsewhere led to a “shelter in place” order for the safety of faculty, students, and staff while law enforcement officials searched the campus.

The next day, Associate Professor of Religion DEREK NELSON ’99 spoke to the campus community in the Chapel.

An excerpt:

I’m not here to sell any easy answers. It’s hard to wrap photo by Steve Charles

“I will win because I will outwork my opponents, and I learned that work ethic at Wabash.”

Isabella de Assis-Wilson and Quinn Cavin '19 in Our Town.

DAVID LEWIS ’81, VICE PRESIDENT, ELI LILLY & COMPANY, at the inaugural Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men Leadership Breakfast at the NCAA Hall of Champions. Lewis also talks about the necessity of taking time off at WM Online.

photo by Jim Amidon

A Teaching Legacy Dr. McLean was almost ninja-like; he could machine-gun you with a series of questions that would really make you rethink your fundamental assumptions about things.

Dr. Butler wasn’t just a great political theory professor; she was a great practitioner of the small “p” politics. She knew everything that was going on around campus. She was fully integrated into this community, and was very dynamic in the classroom.

Visiting Professor of Political Science SCOTT HIMSEL ’85, recalling his mentors and teaching role models Ed McLean H’03 and Melissa Butler H’85 after he was named an Inspirational Educator by the Rhodes Trust. Professor Himsel was nominated by 2015 Rhodes Scholar Jacob Burnett ’15.

our minds around how complex this tragedy is. The victims have a family in shock feeling grief and, I assume, outrage. The suspect has a family in shock, feeling confusion and, I assume, shame. The first responders will have nightmares. Coworkers will be disoriented.

But if spending our time thinking about the perennial questions, trying to write a beautiful poem, characterize a complicated molecule—if all of that stuff is important during a “normal time,” it’s all the more important in the thin place of a tragedy. So we go on about our work not because we don’t want to think about yesterday, but because the work we have in front of us and the people we have across from us, are the very best things around. Their goodness is revealed when a tragedy deprives us of them.

So if you haven’t called your mother, guys, do that today.

They care about you and are scared for you, so just call them.

And if you haven’t thought about how what you’re doing here at Wabash relates to a fragile and hurting world, I hope you’ll do that, too. This is best done when we’re at a thin place, as we are today.

Watch Professor Nelson’s complete talk at WM Online.

photo by Howard Hewitt

SPRING 2016 | 21

A MAN'S LIFE An ongoing conversation about what it means to be a man in the 21st century

The Mountain Man Had I somehow imprisoned myself by the very thing that I had supposed, all these years, would enlighten and thus liberate me?

by MATTHEW VOLLMER

I

once knew an old mountain man, a man who had never married, never had a girlfriend, never so much as kissed or danced with or held hands with a woman, or— for that matter—another man.

This mountain man lived in the same white clapboard house where his mother had given birth to him and his brothers and sisters, but unlike his siblings, he’d never left home, had lived his entire life in that very same house. He owned no car, had never been licensed to drive.

Had no teeth, little—if any—hair. Wore ball caps and boots and long-sleeve shirts under overalls. His head—bald and egg-shaped— trembled, as did his hands: the result, perhaps, of some kind of undiagnosed palsy. He spoke in gnarled, guttural bursts that often sounded like singsongy gibberish, though if you listened you might learn how to identify bear scat, where to find ginseng, or how to use wasp larvae as fish bait.

The mountain man trusted no financial institution, stuffed his money into Mason jars, which he buried in his backyard, in dank little graves where the bills rotted to slush. Though he’d once worked as a carpenter, the mountain man was now unemployed and spent his days gathering eggs and collecting honey from hives and tossing scoops of feed corn to pigs he was fattening for slaughter. If he’d ever gone to school, he hadn’t stayed long and, perhaps as a result, had never learned to read or write.

He did, however, own a television. What, exactly, he learned from watching its nightly

22 | WABASH MAGAZINE

transmissions it’s impossible to say, though it was common knowledge among those of us who knew him that he rarely missed an episode of Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy! Nobody knew why two of his most beloved shows were those whose appeal depended, in part, on an audience’s ability to recognize words and letters or read questions as they appeared onscreen, so as to play along at home. Maybe these shows boasted the cleanest receptions. Maybe they were—in the mountain man’s estimation—the best of that particular hour’s lineup. Or maybe he simply enjoyed watching others decipher with relative ease what would have been, for him, an onslaught of unsolvable mysteries.

THE IMAGE OF THE old mountain man came to me on a day that I boarded a train for Manhattan. I’d been staring out the train’s window, at which point a voice in my head began to narrate what I saw. He stared through the train’s smudged window, the voice said, at the blurred world outside. This—a voice narrating my observations—was not uncommon; I’d spent the better half of my life attempting to translate the life I’d lived and witnessed into words. This time, though, the voice felt intrusive, like an unwelcome phantom mediating my experience without my permission. I began to wonder whether the impulse to describe my surroundings—to put them, as they say, into words—was preventing me from enjoying a more direct perceptual experience. I was struck by the notion that my

entire life could be reduced to a single, absurd enterprise: specifically, the distillation of lived experience to a series of symbols.

According to an online quiz I’d recently taken, my vocabulary likely consisted of more than 32,000 words. As a professor at a university, I spent the majority of every day reading books and writing email and reading and commenting on student papers. I attended meetings where my colleagues and I analyzed course proposals. I drafted promotional materials. I constructed syllabi. I wrote assignments. It was thus safe to say that I spent the majority of my waking life submerged in a world of language, of words, of representation.

I was thinking of that quiz when, for some reason, as I was rocketing north through Virginia’s Shenandoah Mountains, my fellow passengers napping or swiping repeatedly at the screens of their phones or sipping coffee they’d retrieved from the Café Car, the illiterate mountain man appeared in my mind.

I remembered how he’d never traveled more than 100 miles from his home, venturing no farther than a place called “the bald,” a grassy meadow at the top of a ridge on the Snowbird Mountain range in western North Carolina, where a group of men from my hometown camped for a week in August to pick blueberries and lounge around campfires telling stories, and where, during one particular campout, one of the men had slipped a Playboy magazine into the paper sack that housed the mountain man’s personal items, and how this mischievous

camper had elbowed other men and snickered as the mountain man unfolded the centerfold and stared at it—head wobbling, jaw slackened.

What had passed through the mind of the mountain man as he eyeballed this airbrushed beauty?

I had no way of knowing, but it was a surefire guarantee that he hadn’t heard a thirdperson voice in his head narrating what he

This time, though, the voice felt intrusive, like an unwelcome phantom mediating my experience without my permission. saw. The mountain man did not stand—as one must when contemplating how best to depict the human heart in conflict with itself—at a remove. Thus, I couldn’t help but assume that the mountain man’s experience of being alive was somehow more immediate than my own, and that as he peeled an apple—the green rind ribboning away as the blade of his pocketknife slipped under its skin, winding around and around until he’d produced a pale, naked orb—his perception of the act was not mediated by symbols, whereas mine was and, I supposed, always would be.

Had I somehow imprisoned myself by the very thing—the study and refinement of words—that I had supposed, all these years, would enlighten and thus liberate me?

What if Lao-Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, had been right, and only that which was unnameable was the eternally real?

I didn’t know.

I only wanted to know what it would be like—for a day, even an hour—to live in a world where I couldn’t recognize words by sight, where the alphabet constituted a sequence of untranslatable ciphers, and where my perceptions—unencumbered by the anxiety of how best they might be represented—would anchor me fast to the world. I wanted to live— like the mountain man—simply.

I wanted to simply live.

I imagined returning to my hometown to visit the mountain man, to stroll beside the babbling creek that ran by his house, to trudge through his molehill-rutted yard, and to swing open the screen door of his back porch, where I might find him preparing a slaw by mashing a toothy instrument into a bowl of cabbage.

But it was too late.

The mountain man no longer lived in the clapboard house. He no longer peeled apples or smoked bees or inspected owl pellets or crushed his kitchen’s cockroaches with the backsides of cast-iron skillets. He had grown old and—for a time—went to live in a nursing home, where, before he withered and died, he could be found wandering from room to room, visiting with other residents, and lying down in a bed if it was empty, even if it belonged to someone else. Which meant that the mountain man had taken the secrets of his inner life—as we all someday will—to the grave.

And so we are left with the mystery of his existence, and I with the memory of his speech, of language that must have existed for the mountain man as pure sound, a vocabulary that he had acquired by paying attention—by listening carefully—so that, like a song he had taught himself how to play by ear, he, too, could express himself, with words he knew not by sight but by heart.

MATTHEW VOLLMER is the author of the short story collections Gateway to Paradise and Future Missionaries of America, as well as inscriptions for headstones, a collection of essays. He directs the undergraduate creative writing program at Virginia Tech University and worked with Wabash students in 2014 as a visiting writer.

SPRING 2016 | 23

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

REVOLUTION Local Motors’ focus is to create smart, safe, sustainable vehicles—with a 3D printer.

24 | WABASH MAGAZINE

photo by Kim Johnson

“You’ll walk into our facility, design your vehicle, and in a few days it’s built and ready for you.”

DAVID WOESSNER ’01 with a prototype of the LM3D Swim electric vehicle at Local Motors’ new facility in National Harbor, MD.

“THE CAR AS WE KNOW IT MUST DIE.” That’s how David Woessner ’01, Detroit-based general manager of automotive innovator Local Motors Inc., introduced the company’s vision to students and faculty during his visit to campus in December. Local Motors’ business model is equally audacious.

The Financial Post calls it “so radical that it’s hard to comprehend at first: crowd-sourced, 3D-printed electric vehicles built in local micro-factories the size of grocery stores, then sold directly to consumers.”

Woessner explained it this way to the Wabash community: “In 2015 more than 80 million vehicles were produced in the world, and the average utilization of a car is between 3 and 5 percent.

That means 80 million cars produced sat idle 95 to 97 percent of the time.

“We can create a more sustainable car industry, so there aren’t as many old cars around in junkyards in 40 years, and that’s our focus: to create smart, safe, and sustainable vehicles.”

Woessner considers Local Motors part of a third Industrial Revolution—digital, CADdrawn, and 3D-printed.

“As battery technology and electronics are advancing, the car is changing from a mechanical vehicle into the most heavily regulated and complex consumer electronic device in the world today,” says Woessner, who previously managed his own automotive consulting firm, W Advisors, in Detroit. In 2009 he also helped bring together leaders from across the country for a summit to find ways the city could work its way out of the Great Recession. He joined Local Motors in 2014.

“Our competitors like Tesla and Elio Motors are still making cars the same old way. We’re fundamentally different in the way we design, build, and sell our products,” Woessner says.

“We combine communities of enthusiasts and problem solvers to understand local needs, harnessing the power of the crowd to develop and design a vehicle. Then we produce it locally at micro-factories, using locally developed fuel sources and locally sourced suppliers.”

Local Motors was co-founded in 2007 in Phoenix by Jay Rogers, whose grandfather owned Indian Motorcycle Company and built the first steel mini-mill. The company made headlines in January 2015 when it introduced the first 3D-printed car at the Detroit Auto Show.

Now it’s ready for the big leap.

“We’re not going to be like BMW and we’re not going to be Hyundai,” Woessner says. “We believe in distributed manufacturing.”

And there will be no chain of dealers to add cost between the manufacturer and the consumer—an equally revolutionary concept that will require changes in the laws of many states.

“You’ll walk into our facility, design your vehicle, and in a few days it’s built and ready for you.

“As Wabash likes to say, we’re changing the world one Little Giant at a time.”

The first LM3D cars are being built at Local Motors’ existing micro-factory in Knoxville, TN. Another facility celebrates its grand opening (in June 2016) in National Harbor, MD. Watch a video of Woessner driving the LM3D and see more photos and details at WM Online.

SPRING 2016 | 25

CLASS NOTES

A SINGUL AR

by RICHARD PAIGE In the pulse-pounding race to make and bring to market the medical devices in a dynamic healthcare market, entrepreneur Jim Dreher ’85 relies on a reliable “sniffer,” a great work ethic, and a team he trusts to create “first class solutions to really good problems.”

And then there’s Dash…

On a rainy Southern California afternoon, Jim Dreher cuts through the Westwood traffic in his Mercedes G-Class SUV on his way to meet with a doctor at the UCLA Medical Center. His eyes dart between his passenger and the road as he offers up a brutally honest assessment of what it’s like to be a medical technology entrepreneur.

Between talk of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals, $5-, $10-, and $20-million outlays, business models, and ethics, I realize this drive mirrors his mission: He’s looking for space. The space where the right opportunity lies. The space down the road.

Dreher is looking ahead.

26 | WABASH MAGAZINE

“People have issues judging the market where they are today,” he says, “but you have to judge it by where you will be when you seek FDA approval. You have to make decisions based on three to five years down the road.”

The founder and managing partner of medical device incubator Option3, Dreher focuses his attention these days on fast-tomarket technologies in neurointervention and catheters to access the brain. But during the past 15 years he has founded a number of highly valued start-ups and helped invent and take to market several award-winning devices that improve patients’ recovery and quality of life. He also serves as industry mentor and advisor to this afternoon’s destination, UCLA’s MedTech Innovations Program.

Dreher meets with doctors because he wants to know where the problems are. He’s a problem guy, and a good device is designed to solve a problem.

“It can’t be the other way around,” he insists.

“You don’t want a solution in search of problem.

You understand?

“Finding the right problem to go after is really where the secret sauce is. I am not an outsource manufacturer, nor do I want to be. I want to take the risk of going after an interesting problem, and if I end up with a game-changing solution, then I am rewarded for that effort.

“My world is kind of like playing calculated roulette—the potential for a significant multiple is there if you land on the right spot at the right time.”

Dreher’s drive to find a solution and his ability to “sniff out” opportunities make his approach unique. He’s always searching the space.

“He has a really good eye and gut feeling for a good business opportunity,” says Jemima Escamilla, an Option3 venture associate who was recruited from the UCLA program he advises. “What I’ve learned from him is the space. He finds those diamonds in the rough.”

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

“ Little Bit of a Wild Card” STEM Entrepreneur and former Covidien President Stacey Enxing Seng agrees that seeing the space is key.

“Jim has a special brand of enthusiasm and ability to really understand the technology because of his own intellect, and he dedicates time and energy with physicians and others in the field to really learn the ins and outs of the space,” she says. “He is relentless with the questions and understanding what the real issues are to performance, adoption, and approval of a technology.”

“I am and will always be the dumbest guy in the group. They’re brilliant, but they want a guy who is charging ahead and goes in with his guns blazing. I’m okay being that guy.”

He has the confidence to let his team run with ideas.

“They come up with a lot of first-class solutions, because we don’t put blinders on ourselves. I don’t want preconceived ideas.

Give me a problem, a really good problem, and if I let my guys run, I know they will solve it.”

Dreher’s confidence helps inspire his team, an essential factor in his medtech success rate.

“The people on both sides of the table—the builders and the investors— are nearly as important as the relevance of the technology or the end product,” says Enxing Seng. “Jim’s work implies a high level of trust and transparency, integrity and work ethic, and when you have experienced these qualities in people, the loyalty comes because you want to work with them again and again.”

VISION The approach has served him well. Of his 10 ventures, nine have been successful, with one selling in 2012 to Teleflex and another in 2014 to Cardinal Health, and both for handsome profits.

When Dreher senses a problem worth solving, he has a top-notch engineering and research team to work up a solution.

“I surround myself with amazing people,” he says, “We’re basically a consortium of independent contractors. We’re partners.

Dreher worked at Johnson & Johnson and others for more than a decade before stepping out on his own.

“I’d reached some ceilings as to how far I was going to go,” he says. “I’m a little bit of a wild card. A little bit of a rebel.”

He laughs.

“That only goes so far in a large corporation.”

A Stanford cardiac surgeon brought Dreher into his start-up, and he’s never looked back.

“I think it was a natural fit, though not without its ups and downs.

It’s like a hockey game without referees. In the big companies, you’ve got referees. But here it’s like you’re refereeing yourself.

Everyone is refereeing themselves.

“It wasn’t about money. I wanted to impact the direction of a business. To know if I make a decision, is it a stupid one, or a good one. It was about whether or not I had good thoughts.”

Dreher and the doctor talk for more than an hour at a picnic table outside UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center, then we head for the Option3 office on Wilshire Boulevard.

It’s wood and plaster unpretentious: One large room with a couple computers and a small conference room in a space shared with an accounting firm. Escamilla’s small dog greets us at the top of the stairs.

The “R” Word In a half-hour conversation about what students need to be entrepreneurs, Jim Dreher uses the word “resilience” more often than a Brené Brown TED talk.

He says you earn that at Wabash and the business world.

“Everything I’ve been a part of has demanded resilience and patience,” he says. “Pride-swallowing experiences, if you will.”

“Wabash is not an easy school—not just academically difficult, but the environment is difficult. We have no outlet here as men than to give each other shit, right? You have to push back here. You can’t hide here. You have to have the integrity to deal with it. I think that makes for a very resilient graduate when you get through.”

ATSINA SURGICAL GATOR CLIP, a next-generation polymer ligating clip for use in minimally invasive and vascular surgery.

SPRING 2016 | 27

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

On the CIBE “You should know he is the real CEO of Option3,” Dreher told me earlier. “His schedule and what he wants to do define what I’m doing. He’s an inspiration. He’s very aware— he knows we work on new inventions and that we’re helping people. He sits in on some meetings, meets some of the UCLA kids that come over, some of my engineers.”

It’s part of Dash’s education, Dreher says, and dovetails with his own philosophy.

“You are what you eat. If you hang around smart people, it's gonna rub off. So he’s exposed to this.”

He smiles as he recalls a recent meeting Dash sat in on with Indiana Biosciences Institute CEO Dave Broecker ’83.

“I tell Dash that not only is Broecker an inventor, but he’s the greatest quarterback who ever graced the halls of Wabash. Dave shares with him the patterns and the plays—Dash is overwhelmed.”

It’s after 5 p.m. when we wrap things up— Dreher calls an Uber for me, prepays it, tip included, and thanks me for coming. Then he turns back to the office and Dash, and the only space left to find after days on the road is the one he’s been looking forward to all day— home, a pizza, and a father-son movie night.

photos by Steve Charles

Wearing a pair of faded jeans, a nondescript green button-down shirt over a gray T-shirt and a well-worn pair of Salomon shoes, Dreher introduces me to his associate and the folks in the accounting firm. The intensity of the drive eases into friendly banter as he reminds others of upcoming meetings and gets an update on research. They’ve got some catching up to do— Dreher spends most of his time on the road.

“Basically, what you see is what you get with him,” Escamilla says. “This is what he’s like all the time…really high energy and always very excited about finding the next opportunity.

We’ve got a million things going on.”

As we finish the interview for this story in the conference room, Dreher finds a bottle of wine and begins telling stories, a couple serious, a couple hilarious. The accounting staff borrows a corkscrew from the neighboring P.F. Chang’s and scrounges up some snacks.

Dreher says he surrounds himself with good energy. His company names all have meaningful connections. His brother Scott’s son, Robbie, was an English Premier League soccer fan, and after Robbie’s death Jim named one of his ventures HotSpur Technologies after his favorite club.

Atsina Surgical was named after an Indian tribe located not far from Option3’s base in Jackson Hole, WY, while the Qu'Appelle River was the inspiration behind a neurological technologies venture because “it’s sometimes straight, sometimes torturous, just like most neurological technologies.”

He claims not to be superstitious, but the entrepreneur is not about to change procedure: “I believe naming a company is important. I like those regions. I dig nature and energy and things associated with loved ones. There must be something in the water because it’s working for us, and I don’t want to change things.”

Dreher’s son, Dash—named after author Dashiell Hammett—rushes into the room and hugs his dad. It’s obvious he has the run of the place. It’s also obvious Dreher gets a lot of his own energy from the eight-year-old.

JIM DREHER '85 with his son, Dash

28 | WABASH MAGAZINE

Change is happening fast.

That’s why Dreher serves on the board of the College’s Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship (CIBE) and led this year’s Entrepreneurship Summit.

“This thing would have been a godsend to a lot of us 25 years ago, and it matters more than ever now,” Dreher says.

“So many more people have the ability to start their own company today. It’s more dynamic than it’s ever been.

“These things are not only helpful for starting businesses, but this entrepreneurial mindset helps us in making our life choices. What’s good for me, where am I going to catch the wave five years from now?”

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

photos and story by

STEVE CHARLES

SGT. MAJOR LEE WARD (foreground) and SPRING 2 0 1 6 | charge 29 a MAJOR SPENCER WALLACE (background) trench in America's Deadliest Battle.

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

T

hrough my camera lens, the No Man’s Land on the set of Jo Throckmorton’s documentary about World War I’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive looks as though it’s near St. Mihiel, France, not Carlisle, PA. Uniforms and gear are so genuine, my photos look archival.

The staccato of a German machine gun blasts from the real thing. The attacking Americans’ tactics are true to General John J. Pershing’s doctrine of open mobile warfare.

Even the labels on rations and cigarettes fit the date.

But just as cameras are about to roll, one of the historical advisors stops the action.

The letters “U.S.” on a soldier’s satchel are all wrong. That printing appeared on U.S. Army issued gear post-1921, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive ended in 1918.

The solution? Smear mud on any place the anachronistic printing appears.

Throckmorton ’87 doesn’t complain.

“Last night we looked at some of what we shot yesterday, and it looks even better than what I had imagined,” he says. “What we shoot looks exactly like what it would have looked like back then.”

Even the soldiers are authentic. Most are not actors, but volunteers—members of the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment, the Army’s oldest active duty infantry unit known as The Old Guard. Honoring fallen comrades is nothing new to The Old Guard; this is the regiment whose members serve as sentinels maintaining a 24-hour vigil at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

“It’s hard to find actors or re-enactors who are all the right age, fit, and trained as infantryman, so we reached out to The Old Guard and that’s exactly what we were able to get,” says Mike Knapp, director of historical services for the film’s sponsor, the American Battle Monuments Commission. “It gives them a connection, and it has paid off huge dividends for us.”

30 | WABASH MAGAZINE

“Meuse-Argonne was the largest offensive of its time, but today a lot of younger soldiers don’t know about it,” says Sergeant Major Lee Ward. “Being part of this project, they’ve learned.”

So has the Sgt. Major.

“It really reinforces my respect for these men,” he says. “Most of them were drafted.

They board a boat after basic training, get off in France, and are thrown into stalemated trench warfare: You’re moving from crater to crater with a weapon that fires five rounds before you have to reload, running into machine gun after machine gun position, all to gain a few hundred yards. There’s no artillery or air support. The Germans are using gas. It had to be very, very scary.”

“You’re moving from crater to crater with a weapon that fires five rounds before you have to reload, running into machine gun after machine gun position, all to gain a few hundred yards. It had to be very, very scary.”

“What strikes me is the ability of the unit to form under adverse conditions and to figure things out on the battlefield—situations they’ve never faced before,” says Major Spencer Wallace, who served in the Army Rangers in the Iraq War. “They encounter these hardships; they learn how to survive. That’s a lot of adaptation in a very short time.

“Today we can be spread out on the battlefield, but back then everyone is close— you’re using voice communication to march forward, gaining ground inch by inch.”

Filmmaking has its own version of grinding it out, frame by frame.

“The six hours shot on that battle scene will be one minute and fifteen seconds in the film,” Throckmorton says. That’s six hours, seven cameras, scores of actors and crew. And a lot of waiting around during resets.

Major Wallace and the 3rd take it all in stride.

“Soldiers suffer with a smile,” he says. “We don’t complain. We have perspective.”

Wallace grins.

“This ain’t hard.”

ADDRESSING THE TROOPS—Jo Throckmorton ’87 discusses an upcoming scene with actors during filming at the Great War Association’s battlefield outside Carlisle, PA. Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery Superintendent Dave Bedford says the set bears a striking resemblance to the original battlefield in France. • Boston Productions Inc. is producing the film, with Chief Creative Officer Bob Noll (center) as director of photography. • Actors and crew reset for the mustard gas scene.

SPRING 2016 | 31

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

Hiring Our Heroes R

emember those TV commercials featuring United States military servicemen and women receiving spontaneous ovations in airports as they returned to the country they defended? In 2011, nearly one-third of them couldn’t find a job.

That was the year more than eight percent of all military veterans in the United States were unemployed. The number tripled for post-Iraqi and Afghanistan War vets.

Yet by 2015 those percentages had been cut in half.

An improving economy helped bring about the change. But another catalyst was Hiring Our Heroes, a program led for the past three years by Eric Eversole ’94.

Launched in March 2011 to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful work, the initiative has staged nearly 1,000 job fairs across the country resulting in the hiring of nearly 30,000 veterans. More than 2,000 companies have committed to hire 707,000 veterans and military spouses as part of the “Hiring 500,000 Heroes” campaign.

Eversole is just the man to lead the effort. A liberal arts graduate and U.S. Navy Reserve officer who served in the JAG Corps, he knows the challenges of convincing potential employers that his experience and skills meet their needs.

“I got a great education at Wabash and a confidence you don’t get at most institutions— and military basic training is just another way of thinking and analyzing a problem and working with a team to execute the mission.

But the people I wanted to hire me couldn’t always see those connections,” says Eversole, sitting at the worktable in his office in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building a block away from the White House. His shelves are

32 | WABASH MAGAZINE

decorated with mementos from events and photos taken with sports heroes and former Presidents Bush and Clinton.

Ironically, it was his JAG experience that led him to the insight he shares with veterans today.

“The JAG TV show was popular then, and potential employers began asking me about it, Was the real JAG like what they saw on TV?” Eversole smiles. “I realized then that the best interviews were when you talked about nothing much more than the weather. They weren’t about answering questions, but getting to know each other. So much of the employment process is about making a relationship with somebody and that person feeling comfortable with you.

“For me the question became, ‘How do we begin to make that connection easier for these people who are really talented and employers who really need what these people can bring?’”

Finding an answer to that question bears economic ramifications for the U.S. military.

“We’re really looking at a national security issue when the military is paying nearly $1 billion in unemployment costs. That impacts the ability to buy equipment that protects and saves lives.”

It has even farther-reaching consequences for recruiting: “About 70 percent of our service members come from low- to moderate-income families making less than $70,000 a year, and they’re looking for a better life. They’ll do what it takes to get that better life. But if you don’t deliver that better life when they’re done, the next generation of all volunteers is going to be very difficult to recruit.”

So today throughout the armed services you will find programs to help prepare service members for the transition to civilian life—the military’s version of a career services center.

Eversole and Hiring Our Heroes are ahead of the curve.

“Everyone in the military transitions eventually, even if it’s to retirement. So from Day One we need to get our service members thinking about what real economic opportunity looks like.”

He recalls working with a sergeant major at an event on an American installation north of Munich.

“This man had seen everything, had commanded thousands of people, was getting ready to retire the next year. And he started to well up a little bit when he thought about his transition—he’d spent 28 years in the army and this was the only life he knew. And now he’s got to start over again, take care of his family on a path he knows nothing about. It was daunting for him. He was going back to the U.S., and he wondered, How am I going to find a job, to take care of my family?

“We started working with him. We asked him where he wanted to live, what he wanted to do, how much money did he need to make.

“The next spring he called me—he was looking at the southeast and wanted to be in manufacturing. He attended one of our events in Greenville, SC, and I suggested he talk to three companies. Within two weeks he had job offers from all three.

“Those are the kinds of stories that keep you motivated. I fly more than 125,000 miles a year to all these events, but we’re starting to see how it’s changing peoples’ lives, and that’s all the motivation you really need.”

—STEVE CHARLES

photos by Kim Johnson

FRESH FROM THE DRAWING BOARD One of Eversole’s (pictured left) most successful collaborations is a partnership with Jim Ray ’95 and his technologydriven trucking recruitment firm FASTPORT. This year they’re working together to create the Trucking Transition: Driving for Excellence Award, which will provide a fully-loaded Kenworth T680 to a deserving veteran who enters the trucking industry. Ray has been instrumental in thousands of service members finding jobs on the road.

SPRING 2016 | 33

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

Slowing Down the Process

photo by Steve Charles ANNE WALSH spoke with WM at Guggenheim Partners’ Wilshire Boulevard office, just a few hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Pier.

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Anne Walsh and Guggenheim Partners take a team and liberal arts approach to investing, and the results speak for themselves.

It’s easy to be bedazzled by the fact that Anne Walsh helps lead a team managing a $2.6 billion bond fund that outperforms nearly every other fund in its class.

What you don’t expect is the way Anne—senior managing director of Guggenheim Partners and wife of Tom Walsh ’73—handles the small talk before sitting down to business in the firm’s fifth-floor conference room overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

She describes the view: “You have the world-famous beach communities to the south of the Santa Monica Pier—Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach—all the ones you hear about in Beach Boys songs.”

She uses words like lifestyle, ethos, family, and even magic to describe what goes on inside the offices that overlook the intersection where Wilshire Boulevard meets the Pacific.

And that’s when you realize something different is happening here.

Dig a little deeper and Anne lets you in on the secret. In a field full of fund-managing rock stars, Guggenheim uses a team model. Four groups share management of the funds and share in the decision-making process. There is no one person who follows the newsfeeds, does the evaluations, selects the securities, and calls the Street.

A Good Fit

Rob Dyer credits Professor Scott Himsel ’85 with changing his attitude about asking, and answering, tough questions.

Less than a month before graduation, Rob Dyer ’13 decided to change everything.

He knew law school wasn’t for him, but he didn’t know what was.

“It left me a lot of time to start a job search,” he quips.

For nearly three years, Dyer has worked as an analyst for Guggenheim Partners in Santa Monica.

“I love the rigor and the unpredictability— the fact that I don’t know what I’m going to experience in a given day, but I know that it won’t be mindless work,” the economics major says. “It will always be something that requires a lot of thought, and that definitely keeps me energized.”

In large part, it was Dyer’s ability to think that landed him the job.

Anne Walsh, the senior managing director at Guggenheim, and her husband, Tom ’73, routinely host an alumni gathering in their St. Louis home. Dyer, a St. Louis native, had been attending those gatherings as a Wabash student. When Anne discovered that Rob had decided against law school, she thought he

might be a good fit for Guggenheim.

She tells the story of how Dyer aced the interview with the entire Guggenheim team: “One of our people asked Rob, ‘What do you know about insurance asset management?’

And Rob said, ‘Nothing.’ He continued, ‘What would you do if Anne gave you an assignment dealing with insurance asset management?’

And Rob answered, ‘The one thing I wouldn’t do is ask Anne. She’s too busy, so I’m going to find out.’

“That was the clincher. He’s going to go find out and think. He was quick!” Walsh laughs.

Dyer credits political science Professor Scott Himsel ’85 with changing his attitude about asking—and answering—tough questions. The first Wabash class Dyer registered for was Himsel’s Founding Brothers freshman tutorial.

In that class students were rewarded for asking good questions by having to answer the question, too.

That reward led Dyer to think through his questions more thoroughly. The approach has served him well.

DYER HEARD ANNE WALSH’S RECOUNTING OF HIS JOB INTERVIEW for the first time when WM visited them both in Los Angeles.

“It’s a lot easier to go to your boss with a proposal about how you will fix a problem than to say, ‘I don’t know; tell me,’” says Dyer.

"Wabash taught me how to approach problems from unconventional angles.”

SPRING 2016 | 35

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

“Our investment process is unique,” says A DEFINING MOMENT in Guggenheim’s Anne, a 33-year veteran of the profession. success came during the financial crisis of “What we do here is specialize, and it’s that 2008. Anne says they were one of the few firms specialization that leads to performance that to see it coming, and, more important, to act is repeatable, predictable, and scalable. A lot appropriately for their clients. of investors want the star, but they get the “What really made this firm, the turning freshman. That’s not what we have here. This point, was seeing that crisis and acting is very creative work. We expect our people accordingly in spite of everyone else saying to think.” something different. It proved itself during The method championed the most stressful time in the

by Guggenheim CIO Scott market’s history. There isn’t Minerd is based on the book a bigger test. That’s when we Thinking, Fast and Slow began to get attention.”

by Nobel Prize-w inning Anne’s nine-year stint at economist Daniel Kahneman, Guggenheim Partners is the in which the decision-making longest since she began in the process is slowed by including profession as a 19-year-old at multiple voices. By bouncing Auburn University. ideas off each other and “I have pride in this amazing thinking though the process, team of people who do a —ANNE WALSH the Guggenheim Partners tremendous amount of work routinely avoid the panicked buys and sells that day in and day out. We work hard to honor handcuff performance. the people who have trusted us. A little bit of There’s an old adage that says, “buy low, sell the chest thumping is due to the fact that we’re high,” but in the real world, decisions too often doing a really, really good job for the people follow the movements of the herd. The team who trust me and this team, and that means approach helps calm the nervousness that everything to us.” comes with the fear of losing money.

—RICHARD PAIGE “Those are the times when you should absolutely not be making those kinds of decisions,” she says. “Truth of the matter, it applies to everybody, whether you are an institutional investor or an individual. By slowing down the process and diffusing it amongst the team, you collectively end up making better decisions. It’s not unlike a liberal arts approach.”

“I have pride in this amazing team of people... We work hard to honor the people who have trusted us.”

36 | WABASH MAGAZINE

WINNING TEAMWORK—Walsh’s success and the Guggenheim approach captured the cover of Barron’s on March 21, and her daughter snapped a photo of Anne getting her first look at the piece. She shared it with us during our visit.

CLASS NOTES

REBIRTH Playing the “heart and soul” of his most important film to date, Reynaldo Pacheco ’06 reclaimed his own.

SPRING 2016 | 37 photos and story by STEVE CHARLES

REBIRTH CHANGE IS GOOD?!

Larchmont Village feels like an oasis

In the film he plays an energetic if naïve volunteer named of calm after two hectic days caroming through car-clogged Eddie who works with Sandra Bullock’s character, “Calamity streets and stop-and-go freeways in Los Angeles. I’m greeted Jane” Bodine. She’s a political strategist brought in from the U.S. to by the smell of fresh coffee roasting at the artisan café and win the presidency for Pedro Castillo, a former president run out bakery Reynaldo Pacheco ’06 has recommended for breakfast. of the job after a scandal. Eddie’s father supported Castillo, so the Rey arrives a moment later in workout clothes, baseball hat son becomes a true believer, yearning to improve his country and worn backwards. honor his late father.

“That’s why I live in this area—to get a little bit of quiet,” he The film is a fictionalized account of the notorious 2002 Bolivian says. “The vibration in Los Angeles is intense. It attracts a lot election. Director David Gordon Green didn’t realize it when he of people for the wrong reasons. There’s a lot of desperation.” cast Rey as Eddie, but Rey’s father served in the administration of Desperate hardly describes Rey these days. NBC News called the real-life version of Castillo, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. him “the heartbeat” of Our Brand Is Crisis, the 2015 film starring “I was a kid when all that happened,” Rey says. “My dad would Sandra Bullock and produced by George Clooney. Before that take me behind the scenes to see it. Going back was surreal.” was Beginners with Academy Award winner Christopher Revisiting La Paz also returned him to his acting roots, where as Plummer and Ewan McGregor, Without Men with Eva Longoria, a teenager he performed with a street theater company.

TV appearances on CSI and numerous commercials.

“We were right back in those same streets,” he says. He even took His career is taking off after 10 years here and he’s grateful, cast members to a theater where he had performed. but wary.

Preparing for the role reinvigorated him.

“It changes you,” he says.

“My character was younger than I am. He’s the I don’t see it. When he returned to only one in the movie who is pure. To get that look Wabash three weeks earlier to screen I changed my diet, started exercising. I started Our Brand Is Crisis, he seemed very forgiving myself, forgiving those who had hurt me. much the same old Rey: That rare “I started coming back to the old Reynaldo— student who embraced every artistic someone who could see the damage, but also the opportunity the place had to offer good person behind that. I got to experience and made up his own—performing that rebirth.”

—DAVID GORDON GREEN, in and writing plays, singing, acting, Rey found joy in improvising scenes with director, Our Brand Is Crisis and painting. A guy who worked with Sandra Bullock. kids in Crawfordsville’s Vanity Theater and took that creative “Sandy always finds the comedic moment in everything— feedback loop on the road to Paris and to an indigenous theater she has such timing,” he says. “She’s always finding that group in Chiapas, coming back with stories to tell alumni in element of surprise.”

Wabash Magazine. All while majoring in political science to But ultimately he experienced that loss of innocence all over appease his father, a former government minister in Bolivia. again as Eddie. After Castillo’s victory, Eddie watches him break When he left for film school at the University of Southern a major campaign promise. He confronts Jane, who washes California and decided to stay in LA, friends worried he was her hands of the outcome and tells him that’s just the way the too generous, too optimistic to make it. system works.

But when he returned to Korb Classroom in March to “That scene with Sandra was powerful,” Rey says. “After that I go screen his greatest star-turn yet, there were no Hollywood out into the street and that poison starts to get in to my system. If airs—just generous answers to any question, a smile when we you look at that final take, it looks like I’ve aged. applauded as his name appeared in the credits, hugs for his “Many people died during that period of Bolivia’s history. This many Crawfordsville friends, and an immediate “okay” to our is the story of powerful people and that selfishness, that way of last-minute request to interview him on camera at 10 p.m. living, breeds something dark.”

“Sure seem like the same guy to me, Rey,” I say.

Working so closely with one of Hollywood’s top stars also made “I’m not as open and trusting as I was at Wabash,” he insists. him more aware than ever of the pitfalls of fame.“You’re never “Here I can’t do that. I lost that sense of community, that purity, alone. Someone walks you to the airplane, and when you walk out seeing the goodness in people.” of it, there’s someone there to meet you. The minute people find out He says working on Our Brand Is Crisis brought back some where Sandra’s going to be, the paparazzi are there. You have to of that “old Reynaldo.” have security—it’s like you’re a walking bank.

“You get very famous, you can be damaged.”

Reynaldo’s a guy that you want to live the adventure with a little bit.

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PACHECO RETURNED TO CAMPUS IN FEBRUARY to screen Our Brand is Crisis—"I think Wabash gave me that ability to see different stories, different humanities, because of the liberal arts education"; from the set of the film, with Ann Dowd and Sandra Bullock.

photo by Patti Perret/AP

Not that he doesn’t realize the advantages of fame. Rey is channeling part of his into Changing Stories, a nonprofit production company he co-founded with Dalai Lama Fellows Director of Resource Development Natalie Conneely. Its mission of “using the arts as a medium for healing and storytelling” gives voice to underreported social issues, while connecting communities around the world through arts workshops.

The first served more than 100 children in El Alto and La Paz, Bolivia.

“We tell stories that need to be heard,” says Rey, who is writing scripts and acting and singing in some of the group’s projects. “We’re starting with documentaries and short films.

“I want to create a production company that tells stories, but also gives those watching the chance to change, to become a Changing Stories warrior.”

He’s also teaching acting to more than 400 students through the Hollywood Academy of Performing Arts, where his signature course has a liberal arts ring: The Art of Thinking.

And he’s choosier about the parts he takes; he can afford to be.

“Once you get to a certain level you have to be careful what you choose, your brand.”

Before we leave the café I ask Rey’s permission to take a candid photo. He’s backlit where he’s sitting, so I ask him to move to a different table and pose.

He winces. The restaurant is now packed with lunch customers, and people are starting to stare. Rey forces a smile and I snap three shots, but he’s eager to end it.

“I just don’t want to stand out,” he says quietly, and I realize I’ve put his relative anonymity at this place of refuge at risk. That LA vibe is insidious, and I’m playing my own bit part.

We walk down Larchmont Boulevard to my car. He’s going to work out, then audition for a commercial this afternoon. He’s not worried about it.

“In commercials, they consider so many things that don’t have anything to do with you. You can have a great audition and still not get it. I don’t take it personally.”

I’m still regretting that photo at the café, but Rey has moved past it. He says goodbye with an affectionate hug and thanks me for coming to see him. Now in his 30s, he’s more contemplative than the carefree student I shared hours of conversation with in my office at Kane House years ago. No longer naïve, but hopeful.

That’s one thing that hasn’t changed about Reynaldo Pacheco—as Sandra Bullock and a growing list of stars can now attest: He still leaves you feeling better, with a renewed sense of wonder about people and the world.

The good behind the damaged one.

Read more about Changing Stories at www.changingstories.com

Director David Gordon Green On Casting Pacheco In a lot of ways, Eddie is the heart and soul of the movie. It was the one substantial role that I felt needed to be Bolivian, and when I met Reynaldo, he had that energy and that innocence.

Eddie is optimistic to the point of being naïve. I think Reynaldo is very savvy and educated and knew how to navigate some of those difficult detours and was able to use those looks and little moments and those slivers of a smile that can transform someone like Jane [Sandra Bullock’s character].

It was great working with him and spending time in Bolivia with Reynaldo and his family. I went to this weird rock doctor down there with him.

He’d put all these stones on you and take you on strange journeys.

Reynaldo’s a guy that you want to live the adventure with a little bit.

–excerpted from Our Brand Is Crisis Interview, MoviesOnline.ca

SPRING 2016 | 39

CHANGE IS GOOD?!

ONE OF THE GRANDEST

CHALLENGES The Wabash doctor who waged a decades-long and ultimately successful battle against smoking sees climate change as an exponentially greater threat to global public health.

“This is one of the grand challenges in the history of humanity,” says Dr. Stephen Jay ’63, Professor of Health Policy and Management at Indiana University– Purdue University at Indianapolis. “The science on climate change is really, really compelling.” He notes disturbing similarities between the “doubt propaganda” put forth by tobacco manufacturers in the 1960s and the tactics of naysayers on the human causes of climate change.

“Evidence of global climate change is all around us,” says Jay, who recently helped lead the data-driven effort to shut down a coal-burning power plant in Indianapolis due to its impact on the health of residents in the area. “My wife and I were riding our bikes in the Everglades and we saw firsthand evidence of climate change. We saw water running across trails that had previously been dry forever. We’re seeing the tremendous intrusion of saltwater into the ecosystems in South Florida.

“Americans are already suffering from the impacts of climate change.

In the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska, you find people struggling to survive on what remains of their island being engulfed by that sea.”

In Louisiana, Jay notes, the Isle de Jean Charles band of BiloxiChitimacha-Choctaw people have become America’s first official refugees of climate change, granted $48 million to re-settle on higher ground after their homeland was increasingly submerged.

“Six-thousand miles from there in the Middle East a sustained drought is partially responsible for the mass migration of people from that region to Europe,” Jay continues. “Climate change has been called a ‘threat multiplier.’ Everything else being equal, climate change is responsible for the destabilization of groups of people, and that spells problems for all of us.

“We are the first generation to fully understand the implications of what’s happening. And we are, according to the best and brightest of 70,000 climate scientists worldwide, the last generation that can do something about it.”

—STEVE CHARLES

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MUIR GLACIER, ALASKA, AS SEEN IN 1941 AND 2004.

1941 photo taken by Ulysses William O. Field; 2004 photo taken by Bruce F. Molnia. Courtesy of the Glacier Photograph Collection, National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology.

SPEAKING OF SPORTS

“GOING FOR

THE WALL”

On the Friday before Commencement, WM sat down with Zechariah Banks ’16— the religion major/political science minor and two-time All-American—to discover what drives this swimmer who broke seven school records during his career at Wabash.

You transferred to Wabash from Indiana University after your freshman year. Why? The swimming program was great there, but I was going the wrong direction academically, not really focusing on school, just hanging out.

I felt secluded, restricted. It just wasn’t the right fit. I was never looking ahead—just living for the moment.

Wabash had been my second choice, so after I left IU I called Coach [Steve] Barnes and asked if I could transfer.

Was IU to Wabash a difficult transition?

Academically it was tougher, but three of the guys I swam with at Carmel High School—Elliot Johns ’16, Clayton Highum ’16, and Jack Belford ’16—were here.

So the curriculum here was harder, but for some reason my grades shot up. I felt more driven, more focused. I was surrounded by people who were like-minded.

The best thing that Wabash did for me was to give me a better trajectory in life—pushed me in different directions, helped me explore what I really wanted to do, and what I needed to do to get there.

What’s the most difficult challenge you’ve encountered in your life?

I got hit by a car when I was in 5th grade—shattered my pelvis, broke my femur in half. We were on a field trip to Cincinnati, it was after the Reds game, and I was walking across the street in Harrison, OH, the last person in my group.

I don’t remember it—I do remember being in the helicopter, being in the hospital.

I had to relearn how to walk. That year I had been running cross-country, playing basketball, I was sidelined for about a year.

Is that when you began swimming?

No. I started when I was younger. My mom is a dentist, her practice is near downtown, and she knew an instructor at IUPUI in that natatorium.

[But after the accident] my doctor told me that swimming would be the best physical therapy, and that’s what got me back in the pool.

Did that recovery instill your work ethic?

I’d say my work ethic helped me get through the rehab, and that made my work ethic stronger. I just had no other option but to do what I needed to do to get back to where I wanted to be.

You and your fellow seniors broke 15 school records, and you’re the first Wabash All-American in swimming since Grant Comer in 1996.

It’s a team sport, but you compete individually. How do your teammates help you succeed?

In swimming, it comes down to who is going to give up less. There aren’t any big secrets in training, so when two guys are going for the wall, it comes down to who wants it more.

When you go to a meet and see your teammates doing well—like last year in the NCAC conference meet when Jack [Belford] won the 500—you can see the whole team elevate. When you see your teammates do good, you don’t want to be the one who doesn’t follow suit.

“I GOT HIT BY A CAR WHEN I WAS IN 5TH GRADE—SHATTERED MY PELVIS, BROKE MY FEMUR IN HALF. I HAD TO RELEARN HOW TO WALK… THAT’S WHAT GOT ME BACK IN THE POOL.”

SPRING 2016 | 41

SPEAKING OF SPORTS

What has been your favorite Wabash moment?

Just hanging out in the Swim House at 33 Harry Freedman Place. We’re really close.

What’s your favorite Wabash tradition?

Monon Bell Week. The whole campus unites against DePauw, supports all the teams.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, what are you doing in that picture?

Helping people. I feel like I’ve been blessed and helped a lot in life. Countless people have helped me. People talk about being a selfmade man—I feel like it’s kind of hard to be a self-made man, because other people are always helping you.

The swim team gives lessons to kids during the year—has that been part of the “helping” picture?

We see ourselves in the kids, when we learned how to swim. We get to give back a little, and it’s just fun. They really try, and that makes the best kids.

I had one student—Reva Douglas—all four years. She was easy to teach, all excited about learning. Sometimes she’d jump in the water by herself before she could even swim!

Now she can swim all by herself, I don’t even have to be in the water with her. It was pretty cool to see that.

ZECHARIAH BANKS ’16 Major/minor: Religion/political science Career plans: Law school—“I’d like to go into sports law; I’d like to be a lawyer for the Chicago Bears.”

Banks works with swimming student, Reva Douglas

“REDEMPTION YEAR” A year after missing the entire 2015 season due to injury, heptathlete Matthew Dickerson Jr. ’16 represented Wabash College at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, finishing fifth, setting a new school record, and earning All-America honors.

Dickerson is the first Wabash man to qualify for the national championship meet in the heptathlon.

"To cap this season by going to Nationals, that was my dream," Dickerson says. "This has been a redemption year for me. The injury was frustrating, but Coach Morgan explained that sometimes the best lessons are the ones we learn when we can't compete."

“He’s one of the nicest guys I know, and sometimes that’s his Kryptonite,” says Head Track and Field Coach Clyde Morgan. “He can’t focus too much because he’ll get too serious. I joke with him and say, ‘You need to lose focus.’ I’m happy that this worked out for him. He’s really worked for it.”

—RICHARD PAIGE 42 | WABASH MAGAZINE

WORKS IN PROGRESS

EDUCATION UNDER CONSTRUCTION From Lego bricks to red bricks and limestone, Patrick Kenney ’18 has always been interested in construction.

“It’s in my blood,” he says.

The physics major and math minor just completed a semester-long internship with Wilhelm Construction, the company currently renovating Martindale Hall.

Kenney is vested in the project’s success for many reasons: As a Wabash student he’s receiving hands-on learning and it gives him the opportunity to shape the look of his campus home. It’s also a reflection of his work as an intern and the company where his father is president.

Now Kenney is spending his second summer working in the office at Wilhelm. “Last summer I did estimating. I actually worked on the budget for Martindale.

“The best part is seeing how it all comes together,” Kenney explains. “A lot goes into it. Lots of problem solving. It might not be in the drawing a certain way, but they have to figure out how to make it work or suggest something different.”

Even without an engineering major he knows Wabash can get him to where he hopes to be.

“I didn’t want to go to a college where they push you through and give you a degree,” he says. “Here they care about what you are doing.

I wanted to go where I could get to know the professors well.”

I call him Fabian Mansion—he’s not a House anymore, he’s grown so much.

I’m glad I got to know him.

–Golf Coach and former Head Basketball Coach MAC PETTY H’76

—KIM JOHNSON

PATRICK KENNEY ’18 Physics major/Math minor

THE FACE OF WABASH I have given more than 350 official tours of campus.

My last one was really special. After the prospective student went to class, his parents thanked me and added, “You said a lot of things and answered a lot of questions that made Wabash feel like a place he would want to go to.” I got a little tearful.

—FABIAN HOUSE ’16

In his four years on campus, Fabian House, as much as anyone, has been the face of Wabash College.

He seems to be involved in everything—resident assistant, orientation leader, vice president of the Student Senate, student representative to the National Association of Wabash Men, member of the Little Giant cross country and track-and-field programs, and a tour guide for the Office of Admissions.

Between the official and informal tours, Fabian thinks he’s led more than 500 groups and individuals around campus during the past three and a half years, including all of the “official” presidential and dean candidate tours.

Just think of how many future Wabash men’s first impressions were shaped by Fabian!

—RICHARD PAIGE

FABIAN HOUSE ’16 Major: English/political science Career plans: Indiana Teaching Fellows Program

SPRING 2016 | 43

SEASONS IN SPORTS

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

44 | WABASH MAGAZINE

Two national champions and three All-Americans pushed the Wabash wrestling team to a fourthplace finish at the 2016 NCAA Division III Championships, marking only the second time in school history that a Little Giant team has finished as high nationally in back-to-back seasons.

This trio sealed the deal: Riley Lefever ’17 (left) capped an undefeated season with his third consecutive national title.

That makes him one of 16 wrestlers in DIII history to win three! He also earned first-team Academic All-America honors. Devin Broukal ’18 (above) became just the third Wabash wrestler to win a national championship when he won the 133pound weight class, while Nick Bova ’17 earned All-America honors for the first time in his career.

HIGH PRAISE

Head Basketball Coach Kyle Brumett had high praise for seniors Daniel Purvlicis, Marcus Kammrath, and Austin Burton, “All three have had really great basketball moments, but at no point have they ever been anything less than great teammates, great kids to coach, and joys to be around.�

Purvlicis (pictured right) earned first-team Academic All-America and all-NCAC honors after leading the Little Giants in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, and blocked shots this season.

RECORD-SETTING EFFORT Aaron Embree capped a stellar freshman season by setting school records in one- and three-meter competitions this year, and was the first Wabash diver to compete in the NCAA Diving Regionals in nearly 20 years when he placed 13th in a field of 23 divers in March. In addition to Embree, the Wabash swimming and diving team finished fourth at the NCAC Championships, collected two All-America honors at nationals, and set 12 new school records in 2015-16.

SPRING 2016 | 45

CLASS NOTES CLASS NOTES

WORLD WAR I AT WABASH: In 1917, a mess hall was established in the Auxiliary Gymnasium on the second floor of the new Armory to feed the members of the Student Army Training Corps. About half of the Wabash College student body of 525 were inducted into the U.S. Army.

Read more in From the Archives, page 56.

48 Our condolences to the family of David Atchey

on the death of David’s wife, Patricia, on January 10.

David and Patricia had been married more than 63 years.

Hugh Collett and Bill Payne ’81 recently met for lunch at the Star Hotel in Elko, NV. Hugh is a retired physician and 2015 Distinguished Nevadan, and Bill is dean of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno.

52 Bill Etherton has written a book, Good Night and

Good Sports, about his experience as a radio broadcaster for Notre Dame football and basketball. Notre Dame Magazine calls the book “a trip down memory lane with the man who did play-by-play announcing for Notre Dame football and basketball for more than 15 years. Etherton takes readers on a tour beyond the broadcast booth, detailing experiences such as his interviews with Louie Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, John Wooden and Ronald Reagan.”

“I respect and value Bill’s friendship,” writes Ara Parseghian in a foreword. “He was truly one of the best sports announcers and voices of his era.”

54 Dolly Wesolowski, widow of Anthony

Wesolowski, died July 14, 2015, in Eaton, IN.

61 Charlie Bowerman and his wife, Corky, were

inducted into the Bartlesville (OK) Community Foundation Legacy Hall of Fame in May. Induction into the Hall of Fame recognizes a lifetime of giving and participating in charitable work. Charlie and Corky have been leaders in the Bartlesville community and helped found the Bartlesville Community Foundation.

63 A landmark book that Kirkus Reviews calls

“a thorough look at the dissension that tore the country apart,” Daniel Crofts’ Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery examines a little-known episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s life: his role as the “Great Emancipator.” Published by the University of North Carolina Press, the book has received excellent reviews from Dan’s fellow historians, as well. Williams College Professor Charles Dew writes, “Daniel Crofts has shined a bright, clarifying light on the story of the original

46 | WABASH MAGAZINE

SPRING 2016 | 47

BACK ON CAMPUS

“What Makes Life Worthwhile?”

“There are always twists and turns in life,” Dennis Dean ’73 told students and faculty in March as he delivered this year’s Haines Lecture in Biochemistry. “Some of your worst experiences and biggest challenges may end up with very good outcomes.”

FOR DENNIS DEAN—who today is Virginia Tech Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry Executive Director of the Fralin Life Science Institute—a life-threatening emergency led to the moment he realized his work was truly worthwhile.

“I’m very passionate about my work, and I worked really, really hard,” Dean explained. “I was driven, worked seven days a week, ten hours a day. And I did pretty well.

“Then on June 5, 1998, I wake up and I can’t breathe.”

Rushed to the hospital, Dean found himself in a hospice room. When a doctor told him he was suffering from severe heart failure, Dean asked nervously but almost in jest, “How long do I have?” The doctor looked at his watch.

But Dean survived the night, his condition improved, and he was sent home, told to stay in bed and rest. In six weeks, if he got stronger, he would be re-evaluated for a possible heart transplant or surgery.

“Keep in mind I was used to working every day,” said Dean. “It’s amazing what you can do

48 | WABASH MAGAZINE

with your brain when you don’t have anything else to do and you don’t want to go crazy thinking about dropping dead.”

So he reflected on his research and asked himself, If you’re going to die, and you had one last experiment to conduct, what would it be?

Dean made a near-miraculous recovery, was cleared for surgery, and four weeks after the operation, was back in the lab.

And he began to apply to his research the new attitude and clarity he’d gained imagining that final experiment.

“In the next six weeks we accomplished more than we had in the previous six years,” Dean said. “It’s great to have passion, but not so much that it can kill you.

“And sometimes it’s much more effective to think hard than work hard.”

MUCH OF DEAN’S BEST WORK was inspired by the life-changing emergency.

Dean describes the focus of his research as “working on nitrogen fixation”—taking dinitrogen out of the air and making fertilizer.

“Basically, my job is making poop,” Dean said to the laughter of the lunchtime crowd. “You don’t get invited to the president’s office very often for cocktail parties to talk about making poop. It’s very important and there’s some really cool science behind it, but it’s not the sort of thing that makes you feel great about your career.”

But there are those twists and turns.

Dean explained that nitrogen fixation is one of three major processes that sustain life on earth along with photosynthesis and respiration. All three are driven by oxidationreduction reactions that involve small clusters made of iron and sulfur.

“The problem is that both iron and sulfur in free form are extremely toxic, so cells must capture iron and sulphur and mobilize it and combine it in the cell without killing the cell,” Dean said. His lab discovered the enzymes responsible for this process.

“It’s a fundamentally important discovery.

Every living organism depends on this process, and students in my lab discovered it.”

CLASS NOTES

The discovery has deep implications in the medical field.

“The enzymes we discovered are very important, because if they screw up, free iron and sulfur, which are very toxic go places they shouldn’t be,” Dean explained.

That can manifest in “all sorts of nasty diseases,” including Friedreich’s ataxia, a congenital, debilitating, eventually fatal degenerative neuromuscular disorder.

“I don’t work on those diseases,” Dean said. “But once we discovered those enzymes, people in the biomedical community started to recognize how important those enzymes are, and therapeutic intervention is now the target.”

The connection between his research and efforts to treat Friedreich’s ataxia is so strong that Dean was invited to speak at a conference for physicians and scientists who are working for a cure.

“There was a group of children there who have this disease, and it was heartrending to see these kids who could barely walk or breathe,” Dean recalled.

After he made his presentation to the conference, he was approached by three of the young patients.

“They said, ‘Dr. Dean, we want to thank you,’ and I said, ‘You don’t need to thank me. The real doctors are over there—you should thank them.’ Then one of the kids said, ‘No, we want to thank you, because your research gives us hope.’

“Today I tell students that, as a researcher and a professional, you will have the opportunity to truly touch the lives of people you don’t even know, and you’ll do it in ways you never thought possible. And that makes this life, and this career, worthwhile.”

—STEVE CHARLES

Thirteenth Amendment, and we are indebted to him for bringing it into the light of day. This book is clearly the work of a superb historian, indeed one of the best Civil War historians writing today.” Daniel is a professor of history at the College of New Jersey. His specialty is in American history in the years immediately before to the Civil War. Read more about the book at WM Online.

Tim Steele presented a seminar in Lima, Peru, on “Environmental Impacts of Mine Closures: Water-Quality Aspects, Concepts, and International Examples.” Several professionals and students from Peru and Colombia participated in this course. A chemistry major at Wabash, Tim is president of TDS Consulting in Denver, CO, and his career encompasses nearly 48 years in water-quality hydrology and regional assessments of water resources around the world.

64 John Mikesell received the National Tax

Association’s Steven Gold Award. The award is given in recognition of his outstanding contributions to state and local fiscal policy and his ability to span the interests of scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates with great integrity and evenhandedness.

Robert Roeder won the Herbert Tabor Research Award for his pioneering work on eukaryotic transcription initiation. Robert is head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University.

65

Pete and Mary Ruthenburg spent a February evening with Ginny and Don Buehner ’65 at their Lakewood Ranch, FL, home en route to their own snowbird getaway.

Peter Pactor has authored new fiction. Daniel: The Age of Discovery is about “the twelve-year-old son of one of the world’s wealthiest men who is sent off to a boarding school and is so inept with people that he immediately becomes the outcast with everyone except his roommate. Small in body, great in intellect, Daniel learns quickly to adapt. His school community helps him to grow, but Daniel has lessons for both his fellow students and teachers.” Peter is also preparing to retire at the end of the school year from Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth, TX.

67 Jack Brumbaugh represented Wabash at the

inauguration of Julio Frenk as president at the University of Miami in January.

Jack Webster, Professor Emeritus of Ecology with the Virginia Tech College of Science, has been selected as a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America. He was honored for his “distinguished contributions to the discipline.”

Jack will join other 2016 honorees at an awards reception at the annual meeting of the Ecological

Society of America in Fort Lauderdale, FL, in August.

Jack is known for his decades-long research into ecosystem-level processes of aquatic ecosystems, biogeochemistry of streams, and riparian-stream interactions. VT Head of Biological Sciences Brenda Winkel says, “Jack Webster has not only had an enormous impact on the field of freshwater ecology, but he has inspired countless students in the classroom and the great outdoors over his 40 years at Virginia Tech.”

68 Dan Susie was named to 2015 Who’s Who in

Energy. Dan is a shareholder with Winstead Law Firm in Dallas, TX, where he is a member of the finance, banking, and energy-lending practice groups.

71 Bruce Bradway started a new job at Diné

College (formerly Navajo Community College) in Tsaile, AZ, last August. He writes, “I will be initiating the new four-year degree in psychology in 2017. Since we will be living on the reservation we will have to snowbird it back to Iowa in the summer and over Christmas break. At Diné, they have faculty housing in the shape of hogans (octagonal buildings made of logs).”

Kirk Eichenberger will be moving to the Seattle area (Bainbridge Island). Kirk has been overseas in the UK and France.

Fred Haase was inducted into the Indiana High School Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in June. Fred retired from Culver Academy as a teacher and golf coach in 2015.

In his retirement, he will coach golf at the Webb School in Knoxville, TN. Sam Kazdan and wife, Phyllis, are fine, still living in Bloomington, IN, "the longest we have ever stayed in one place—22 years,” he writes. “We are both in retirement—sort of. . . I still operate my consulting firm solo now, mostly performing executive coaching and communication training for a small clientele. I am also a board member of the Community Justice and Mediation Center in Bloomington which focuses on conflict resolution, a strong passion of mine." Their daughter, Delyn, graduated from Indiana University with her master's in counseling psychology with a specialty of working with women in crisis.

73 David Moody began a three-month, 3,300-mile

cycling journey across the United States in March with Ride for World Health to raise awareness and funds to improve domestic and international healthcare. R4WH is a cycling team that is centered around a 3,700-­mile ride from San Diego to Washington DC. David practices family law in rural west central Minnesota. He was motivated to ride to honor a friend who was killed by an inattentive driver while riding last summer.

SEND YOUR LATEST NEWS TO:

Class Notes Editor Karen Handley 765-361-6396 handleyk@wabash.edu

SPRING 2016 | 49

Want to refer a student? ➤ www.wabash.edu/alumni/student/refer Changing careers or on a job search? ➤ www.wabash.edu/careers/alumni/services Connect with Wabash Alumni Affairs at ➤ www.wabash.edu/alumni/

NEW TO AN AREA?

Find the Wabash alumni association nearest to you at: www.wabash.edu/alumni/ra/list

National Association of Wabash Men Board of Directors Rick Cavanaugh ’76 President Rob Shook ’83 Vice President Ross Dillard ’07 Recorder

ALUMNI CONNECTION

Jacob Pactor ’04 Class Agent Representatives Adan Garcia ’04 Eriks Janelsins ’02 Regional Association Representatives Greg Estell ’85 Past President

Board Members Term Expires May 2017 Emmanual Aouad ’10 Art Howe ’82 Ben Robinson ’01 Mark Sutton ’92 David Woessner ’01 Term Expires May 2018 Gary Campbell ’99 Jim Dyer ’83 Steve Mackin ’98 Marc Nichols ’92 Joe Trebley ’01 Term Expires May 2019 Scott Benedict ’98 Kim Chase ’03 Jim Engledow ’78 Herm Haffner ’77 Eric Schoettle ’93 Faculty Representative Dan Rogers Student Representative Jack Kellerman ’18

50 | WABASH MAGAZINE

74 Jim McDaniel reports, “I survived a bout with

cancer this year cropped up in my neck, so treatment was fairly brutal, and some of the side effects, like taste, will likely be permanent. But God is good, and so is my prognosis.”

75 Dale Petrie joined the mayor’s staff as director

of operations for the city of Crawfordsville, a new position created since Crawfordsville was named a Stellar Community in August. The Stellar Community program is designed to fund development projects in Indiana’s smaller cities and towns. Dale recently retired from Sommer Metalcraft, where he was project development manager. His wife, Linda, works at Lilly Library, and their son, Daniel ’07, is an attorney in Crawfordsville.

Willyerd Collier represented Wabash at the inauguration of Mary Schmidt Campbell as president of Spelman College in April.

76 Pat Weber was named Administrator of the Year

at the Arizona Interscholastic Association annual AIA Champions Awards Luncheon. Pat is the director of athletics at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, AZ. Cliff Bell was inducted into the 2016 Montgomery County Basketball Hall of Fame in May during a ceremony held in the old Crawfordsville High School gymnasium. In 91 games as a Little Giant, Cliff scored a total of 1,223 points and grabbed 621 rebounds.

77 Dan Broughton resides in Chicago and he and

his wife, Kim, have two children. Dan is a real estate developer working with a small firm near Chinatown.

Greg Birk writes, “‘Living the dream’ in Switzerland.

I have entered the first ever Beer Lover’s Marathon in May. A fun marathon with 13 ‘aid’ stations at Belgium breweries. I ran the Medoc Marathon with my Wabash pledge son, Frank Fish ’79, a couple of years ago and we had great fun running 42K with 21 wine stops.”

78 Jim Engledow was named a Sagamore of the

Wabash by Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Jim is the CEO and director of estates for the Engledow Group, one of the largest landscape design and maintenance firms in Indianapolis.

Cary Riggs was recently honored by one of his students at Thomas County Central High School in Thomasville, GA. When TCCHS senior Austin Yeomans was chosen the school’s 2016 STAR student, he earned the right to name the 2016 STAR Teacher. Yeomans said he chose Cary because “he has had the most profound effect on my character. He has been more than just a teacher. He has been a mentor and friend.” This is Cary’s second consecutive year being named TCCHS STAR Teacher.

He has taught Latin, AP Art History, AP Latin, and Drama. He plans to retire at the end of this school year to focus on writing fiction.

Former Wabash President Thad Seymour H’78 was honored by the Winter Park, FL, community, which became his home 40 years ago. President at Wabash from 1969 to 1978, he became the 12th president of Rollins College in Winter Park, where the Seymours still reside. May 1,

2016 was declared “Thaddeus Seymour Day,” and Thad was presented a key to the city.

79 Mark Slack, a partner at Florida-based law firm

Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti, Rudnick & Galbraith, announced that his firm expanded its services and reach with a strategic merger that included an established law office in Indianapolis. Located in Castleton, IN, the new WWMRG Indiana office’s scope of services will now include real estate, business transactions, and litigation, in addition to estate planning and administration.

81 J. James Cooper, a partner at Reed Smith

LLP in Houston, TX, was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Coverage and Extracontractual Counsel (ACCEC).

82 Tim Haffner was appointed to the Trine

University Board of Trustees. Tim is a partner with the office of Faegre Baker Daniels law firm in Fort Wayne, IN, and is the father of Michael Haffner, class of 2016.

John Clymer was recently named Fellow of the Institute for Health Policy and Leadership at Loma Linda University.

John Donovan reports, “Hillsboro Publishing is where you can find my new novel, Trombone Answers, and my old one, The Fraternity. There are more on the way, and I just decided that at my age I was tired of approaching agents with cap in hand. That said, my goal is still to get these books in the hands of a company with a decent distribution channel.”

Our condolences to Joe Pfennig on the death of his father, James Pfennig, on March 11.

83 Richard Ice was named provost at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota.

Chris Denari was inducted into the 2016 Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame on April 10. Chris is the TV play-by-play announcer for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and WNBA’s Indiana Fever teams. Read more at WM Online.

Richard Gunderman contributed to an article posted in the Indianapolis Business Journal’s “Hoosier Beacon” column in May that celebrated the writings of General Lew Wallace, specifically his famous novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880).

Gunderman is a chancellor’s professor at Indiana University. The “Hoosier Beacon,” which runs in the IBJ every other week, pays tribute to Indiana’s bicentennial year by telling the stories of famous Hoosiers writers.

85 Bill Harrington was honored with the Pro Bono

Publico Award for aiding domestic violence victims and children. He has provided pro bono legal services for the past 20 years and is in private practice in Danville, IN. Melissa Butler H’85 represented Wabash at the inauguration of Grant Cornwell as president at Rollins College in April.

CLASS NOTES

87 Steven Huder reports, “I got married to Jennifer on May 17, 2013, on the beach in Coronado, CA, and I closed my neurology practice in August 2014. I took a job in Neenah, WI, with the Neuroscience Group of NE Wisconsin as a neurohospitalist. I was pleasantly surprised to see Michael Carl ’87 working in the group as a PM&R/pain management specialist (small world!). My wife and I live in Appleton, WI, and would love to hear from any Wabash grads and old friends who might be close by or coming through for a Packers Game or vacationing.” You can reach Steven at steven.huder@neurosciencegroup.com

88 Garrard McClendon is host of Counterpoint

with Garrard McClendon, a new PBS talk show in Chicago. The show covers commentary, current affairs, and in-depth interviews with newsmakers. In May, Garrard welcomed Wabash students from the College’s Democracy and Public Discourse initiative to the program to discuss the First Amendment.

89 Geoffrey Coates received the Kathryn C. Hach

Award for Entrepreneurial Success, presented by the American Chemical Society to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs who have created a commercially viable business within the chemical enterprise. Geoff is currently the Tisch University professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University, and principal investigator with the Coates Research Group at Cornell.

Scott Alexander was named to the 2016 Indiana Super Lawyer list. Scott is a partner in the Taft Stettinius & Hollister Indianapolis office environmental practice group.

Dave Callecod presented the Commencement address to the graduates at South Louisiana Community College in May. Dave is president and CEO of Lafayette (LA) General Health, a seven- hospital system with six clinical affiliate hospitals in southwest Louisiana. He is a national speaker on healthcare management.

91 Michael Cunningham was promoted to vice

president of publications at the American College of Healthcare Executives in Chicago, IL. Pradeep Chaudhry was appointed country manager for India operations by HARMAN, a connected technologies company for automotive, consumer, and enterprise markets. Pradeep will be responsible for all of HARMAN’s sales, marketing, and engineering operations in India.

Brian Deleget is back in the Midwest (Columbus, OH) after spending 12 years in Orange County, CA. Steve Reedy reports, “Shortly after graduating, I moved to Austin, TX, where I pretty much remained (outside of two years in Richmond, VA, and one year in Tel Aviv, Israel). Becky and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary this coming May. We have two children. “I have parlayed my master’s in electrical engineering into a full-time economics gig as the deputy director of the independent market monitor for the Texas wholesale electricity market (ERCOT). Feel free to give me a call if you are passing through Austin and want to catch up.”

CHRIS DENARI ’83 WAS INDUCTED INTO THE 2016 INDIANA SPORTSWRITERS AND SPORTSCASTERS ASSOCIATION HALL OF FAME.

Joab Schultheis has worked at Atlas Van Lines in Evansville, IN, for the last 15 years in IT, and was recently appointed vice president, CIO. Joab and his wife, Jenn, have a daughter, Peyton (17), and a son, Will (13).

Scott Seay is beginning his 11th year on the faculty at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, where he teaches the history of Christianity, directs the Doctor of Ministry program, and serves as the seminary’s archivist. Scott is also pastor part time at a small Presbyterian church in Nashville, IN. Scott is working on his third book, an investigation of the relationship between the rise of global communism and American revivalism in the 1950s.

Hugh Vandivier reports that after four years at Angie’s List in Indianapolis, he has taken a position as editor-in-chief at a young startup company, Lesson.ly, also in Indianapolis, IN.

92 Dale Brugh was recently named as Ohio

Wesleyan University’s first Associate Dean for Innovation. This is a new position created to provide faculty leadership in a continuous effort to enhance the academic experience. Dale is a professor of chemistry at the college.

93 Gary Reidenbach is attending the U.S. Army War College graduate degree program for senior military officers. Gary is a combat engineer officer who has been stationed in Hawaii, Japan, Virginia, and Iraq.

95 Roy Sexton is serving on two industry associa-

tion boards, the 2016 LMA Midwest board of directors and Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association board of governors. Roy is senior vice president of corporate affairs at Trott Law, a real estate finance law firm in Farmington Hills, MI.

96 Adam Homo writes, “I am happily teaching high

school English and I’m the head coach of four sports (boys’/girls’ cross-country and track). Feeling as though my plate wasn’t full enough, I spearheaded an effort to reinstate a summer track program in Elkhart, IN. It was a huge success last year with the help of many coaches and former student-athletes.

However, we are partnering with other community programs in 2016 to reach more kids. At the same time, I have gotten the school system to expand the elementary cross-country program, which was over 20 years in the making. My wife, Nicole, daughter, Madelyn, and son, Brayden, are doing fine. Our daughter still swims, and my wife and I are still taxicab drivers. Our son has all of the energy in the

world! As I look at all that has passed since Wabash, I can honestly say that time seems to be moving more quickly.”

Royce Smith was named the new dean of the Montana State University College of Arts and Architecture on July 1.

Shawn Tabor was inducted into the 2016 Montgomery County Basketball Hall of Fame in May, which was held in the old Crawfordsville High School gymnasium. Shawn was a three-year starter for the Little Giants and had 1,111 career points and connected on 101 three-point baskets.

98 Pete Logan was appointed to the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota District board of trustees.

Kevin Pastore writes, “I am excited to have recently accepted the position of Web and analytics manager for IES Abroad, a non-profit organization based in Chicago that offers 120-plus study-abroad and internship programs in over 30 locations around the world.”

Peter Prengaman, a cross-format journalist and news manager who has reported from more than a dozen countries for The Associated Press, has been named news director for Brazil.

99 Joshua Patty and Sara Wilcox were married

September 5, 2015, in Lee’s Summit Christian Church in Lee’s Summit, MO. Sara is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Josh currently serves as senior minister at Eastgate Christian Church in Independence, MO. John Sowers ’99, Ian Gerdon ’00, and David Hirt ’00 were part of the celebration.

Ryan and Mimi Will announce the birth of their son, James Hendrik Will, on February 21 in Tacoma, WA. He writes, “Big siblings George, Anna, Alexander, and Norah, are all very excited for the new addition.”

Adam Salon is the head lacrosse coach at St. John’s Jesuit High School Academy.

Seth Little married Kylie Clouser on April 23 in the Darlington (IN) Community Center.

Seth is the manager at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Indianapolis, IN.

00 Pat East was named president of the

Bloomington, IN, chapter of VisionTech Angels. VTA is the angel investing arm of VisionTech Partners.

01 Jacob Bradley was appointed to serve as vice

president to the Indianapolis Bar Association board of directors. Jacob is an attorney with the Indianapolis law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP. Doug Springer has coached girls’ basketball at Northridge High School in Middlebury, IN, for nine years. This year he shares the Coach of the Year honors on the second

SPRING 2016 | 51

CLASS NOTES

annual Goshen News All-Area Girls basketball team.

Ashraf Haidari reports, “After living in DC, I went back to Afghanistan and became Deputy Assistant National Security Advisor, after which I was Afghanistan’s Deputy Chief of Mission to India (in New Delhi) for three years. I have been in this position for the past eight months.”

internships, including his current position as a structural engineer intern for NASA, which concluded in May. Next fall he will begin working on a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at Purdue University.

03 Blake Zachary was named vice president of IT

tion of Michael Fitts as president at Tulane University.

Bryce Chitwood received the Oklahoma 30/30 Next Gen Award in Oklahoma City. Bryce serves as general manager of the Artesian Hotel and Spa in Sulphur, OK. Michael and Lexi Russell are the proud parents of a son, Quinn Alexander Russell, born January 28.

at Hoosier Heartland State Bank in Crawfordsville.

Matt Tanney was named director of athletics at Western Illinois University.

Sean Salai published his first book, What Would Pope Francis Do? Bringing the Good News to People in Need, with Our Sunday Visitor in Huntington, IN. Sean, who joined the Jesuit order in 2005, is now finishing his MDiv at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, CA. He is writing a second book as he prepares for ordination to the diaconate in October and to the Catholic priesthood next June.

David Weglarz is owner and master distiller at StilL 630 in St. Louis, MO. He was featured in a Forbes.com online leadership story—“Loyalty Lessons from a Microdistillery”— in April. An excerpt from the piece by Shep Hyken: “Weglarz is a businessman who has turned a hobby—a passion—into his livelihood. He gets to the distillery at the break of dawn and doesn’t leave until his wife calls to let him know that dinner is about to be served and his two sons are waiting.

“And, he’s good at it.”

05 Miramax has acquired the rights to the film

Southside With You, which stars Parker Sawyer as Barack Obama. The film will be released this summer in partnership with Roadside Attractions.

06 Ryan Monroe was named manager at Huron

Consulting Group in Middleton, WI. As part of a NASA engineering internship, Steven Zusack has led a college research group that has developed a method for mining ice from the south pole of the moon. Steven has participated in several engineering

08 Will Arvin represented Wabash at the inaugura-

09 Christian and Lyndy Lawrence announce

the birth of their son, James David Lawrence, on January 19.

Tony Neymeiyer was named offensive line coach at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, OH. Mike Washburn obtained his PhD in molecular biology in December 2015. He reports, “After graduating, I decided to leave Indiana and pursue a career in cancer genomics in Boulder, CO. WAF.” Royal Gearhart is an associate attorney with Kahn, Dees, Donovan & Kahn, LLP in Evansville, IN. He practices insurance subrogation, litigation and trial services, immigration law, family and private adoption law, business law, and environmental and mineral law.

Kevin Witt is completing his residency in family medicine at IU Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, IN. He is starting his practice this summer in Kokomo, IN.

10 Joby Turner was named head football coach at

Clarksville High School. Turner teaches fifth and sixth grade at Clarksville Middle School.

Nathan Kring was appointed interim director of Tipton County Economic Development Organization (TCEDO) in Indiana.

11 Tobey Herzog H’11 represented Wabash at the inauguration of Eric Jensen as president at Illinois Wesleyan University in April.

12 Luke Zinsmaster married Rachel Geer on

October 17, 2015, in downtown Indianapolis.

Groomsmen were John Holm ’12, John Pennington ’12, Andrew Swart ’12, Jeremy Coons ’12, and David Hauck ’12. Luke and the groomsmen were Beta Theta Pi pledge brothers. Luke and Rachel reside in Fishers, IN. Kyle Najar was recently appointed a U.S. Navy SEAL. Kyle entered training for the SEALs in November 2013.

Craig O’Connor and Emily Scott were married April 2 in St. John the Baptist Church in Winchester, VA.

13 Matt Page opened a Senior Helpers franchise

this month in Terre Haute, IN. Senior Helpers’ mission is to help seniors who wish to remain in their homes despite age-related illnesses and mobility challenges. Matt developed an interest in senior care after seeing the needs of a family member.

15 Jared Burris was one of 680 runners in the

island of Hawaii’s 11th annual Jingle Bell Beach Run. Jared recently moved to Hawaii and he placed first in his first time running the Jingle Bell.

A.J. Akinribade was named defensive line coach at Allegheny College. Allegheny’s football team is coached by B.J. Hammer ’01.

Ryan Guerrettaz received a scholarship award at the Indiana University School of Medicine Scholarship and Awards Banquet held in Evansville, IN. Ryan is a first-year medical student at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Connor Hammerle is currently teaching at Thomas Carr Howe Community High School in Indianapolis.

Tyler Andrews was named director of marketing and business development for Simon’s University Park Mall in the South Bend/Mishawaka, IN, area, where he will be in charge of the creation, development, and implementation of an overall strategic marketing plan for the mall.

IN MEMORY

44 Harold E. Williams, 94, died February 24 in

Crawfordsville.

Born October 7, 1922, at Russellville, IN, he was the son of Lucille and Bruce Williams.

Williams graduated from Waveland High School in 1940. He attended Wabash for two semesters and was a member of the football team.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy Flight Training School, where he attained the rank of ensign.

Williams farmed with his father until 1950, when he began working in agricultural sales. He retired as sales manager with Beard Industries in 1986.

52 | WABASH MAGAZINE

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Jeanne Williams; children, David Williams and Donna Warren; a granddaughter; a great-grandson; brothers, Edwin and Ralph Williams ’52; and sister, Lillian Miller.

He is survived by his children, Sherry Carlson and Brian Williams; brother, Larry Williams ’62; sister, Janet Hodgkins; eight grandchildren; 20 great- grandchildren; seven great-great-grandchildren; and nephew, David Williams ’86.

Frank Ernest Ward Wolfe, 92, died January 21 in Tulsa, OK. Born December 11, 1923, in Chicago, IL, he was the son of Frances and James Wolfe.

Wolfe attended Wabash for three semesters.

He received his Chartered Life Underwriter CLU through the University of Tulsa.

Wolfe joined the U.S. Navy and served as an aviation radioman and a gunner on a Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber.

Following the war, Wolfe began doing theater and singing in nightclubs. He performed three seasons of

THE GRUNGE REPORT

Nearly 200 Indianapolis-area Wabash men, College staff, and students packed the NCAA Hall of Champions room for the Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men’s inaugural Leadership Breakfast, which honored TOM RUNGE ’71 as its Man of the Year. The audience offered a standing ovation for Runge, who retired in March.

Read more about the Leadership Breakfast at WM Online.

Change IS Good!

CHANGE IS ALWAYS GOOD. That rolls off the tongue of an old fighter pilot just like “flexibility is the key to airpower.” Just like “if you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

In my case, I do believe change will be good.

I’ve been in this saddle for more than 15 years.

In my first and chosen career in the Air Force, I would probably have had seven to eight jobs in that time. This saddle is close to worn out, and the Runge bits that go into the saddle are way past that!

Steve Hoffman ’85 will do a great job as the director of the team at Alumni and Parent Programs. He’s a well-known alumnus who was a scholar and an athlete at Wabash. He’s a Wabash Dad. Finally, he was a coach at Wabash.

A lot of alumni already know and trust “Hoff.”

But this will be a big change for Steve, because he’s not so much changing jobs as he is picking up another one. He’ll still be doing a lot of fundraising work in addition to his new duties.

“Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever” — Jack Palance to Lee Marvin in Monte Walsh, 1970

All I can ask is that you give Steve and his lovely wife Dawn the same friendship and support you have given Carol and me.

For me, the future is unclear. My health is good, my mental capacity is still at the same low level it always was, and a part of me is excited about taking a step back to being Joe alumnus.

I HAVE SO MANY people to thank, but I think time and space mean that list stays with me. I absolutely want to mention the one who has done the most—my lovely bride, Carol, call sign “CINCGrunge.” Just as in our Air Force days, only this time for Wabash, she rolled up her sleeves and jumped in the deep end.

She’s already planning our road trips for the away football games of 2016! She, more than anyone or anything, kept me motivated. She loves this good place.

In 1997, I said farewell to my passion/career— Air Force aviator. Nobody gets to do that “work” forever, and those of us who have done that work realize that, at the end of the fun, you must grow up. Well, I’ve grown up. I’m grateful for my time at Wabash providing that transition, for the new friends I’ve made, for the good place and good people I rediscovered.

Rest assured, wherever life takes the Grunge, you’ll be there in my heart. And, just as with our National Anthem, I won’t be able to sing “Old Wabash” or “Alma Mater” without just a little instant allergy attack to my eyeballs.

Fly safe, Check 6, and keep the pointy end forward.

—GRUNGE Tom Runge ’71, former director, Alumni and Parent Programs, runget@wabash.edu

SPRING 2016 | 53

IN MEMORY

FRANK WOLFE ’44 PERFORMED WITH KATHARINE HEPBURN ON A 26-WEEK TOUR IN AS YOU LIKE IT.

summer stock out of New York and a 26-week tour in As You Like It with Katharine Hepburn. He did some modeling in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

When Wolfe moved to Tulsa he continued performing in local theater, did several TV spots, and became an active member of the Tulsa Spotlight Theatre.

Wolfe was preceded in death by his wife, June Wolfe; parents; brother, James Wolfe Jr.; and stepson, John Kimball.

He is survived by his daughter, Dede Compton; stepchildren, Mark and Linda Megill, and David Kimball; five grandchildren; and several great-grandchildren.

children, James Allerdice Jr. and Susi Osswald; and stepson, Wes Harris III; and six grandchildren.

47 Arlo Grant Westbrook died January 5 in La

49 Robert G. Gluth, 93, died April 9 in Highland, IN.

Jolla, CA. Westbrook participated in the V-12 Program and was a member of Sigma Chi while attending Wabash.

He is survived by his wife, Audrie Westbrook, 8859 Caminito Primavera, La Jolla, CA 92037.

48 James Kirkpatrick “Jim” Allerdice, 89, died

November 9, 2015, in Carmel, IN. Born December 12, 1925, he was the son of Laura and William Allerdice.

Allderdice attended Shortridge High School, and was a member of the 1941 undefeated football team.

He earned the nickname of “Modock” for his lumbering gait, dazzling half-spins, and reverses.

Indiana University Coach Bo McMillin recruited Allerdice to play for the Hoosiers. Allerdice stayed just one semester before volunteering for the U.S. Navy. While attending Navy flight training, he was sent to Wabash College and was part of the V-12 program. Allerdice was a member of the Beta Theta Pi while attending Wabash.

After Wabash, Allerdice went to work for Arvin Industries, traveling much of the southwest and finally moving to California to work for Shell Oil. Allerdice then moved to Indianapolis and became partner in the A.V. Stackhouse Construction Company and later worked as an insurance salesman and real estate agent. He retired from Sweet & Company in 1990.

He married Jean Stackhouse on February 16, 1952.

They were married until her death in August 1982.

On July 9, 1985, Jim married Barbara Browning of Indianapolis.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Barbara Allerdice, 13485 Belford Court, Carmel, IN 46032;

54 | WABASH MAGAZINE

Charles J. “Jim” Foxlow, 92, died December 30, 2015, in Indianapolis.

Born June 28, 1923, he was a member of Kappa Sigma while attending Wabash.

He taught English at Park Tudor School for 35 years prior to retirement.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Gloria Foxlow.

He is survived by his children, David, Maureen, and Chris Foxlow; three grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Born April 13, 1922, he was the son of Martha and Henry Gluth.

While attending Wabash, Gluth was a member of the V-12 Program, was on the football and baseball team, and was an independent.

He was a U.S. Naval veteran of World War II and served aboard the USS Wasp.

Gluth was the past president of Consumers Roofing Company and president of The Roofing Corp in Hammond, IN. He was a member for 13 years of the Hammond School Board where he served as president for two years.

He was preceded in death by his sons, Robert and Daniel Gluth; parents; and brother, Chester Gluth.

He is survived by his wife of 71 years, Wanda Gluth, PO Box 1724, Highland, IN 46322; children, Shari Broviak and Richard Gluth; brother, Henry Gluth; eight grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

50 Alexander B. “Ozzie” Arzumanian, 91, died

October 24 in Highland, IN. Born September 8, 1924, he was a member of the football team and Lambda Chi Alpha while attending Wabash.

Arzumanian served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II (European Theater).

He was a real estate broker, an appraiser for more than 40 years, and the owner of Alexander Realty in Hammond, and Arzumanian Nursery in Highland.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Arzumanian, 3006 Lakeside Drive, Highland, IN 46322; daughter, Alexis; brother, John Arzumanian; and sister, Annalee Tarazoff.

Frederick Hoke Lesh, 90, died March 27 in Indianapolis.

Born February 3, 1926, in Indianapolis, he was the son of Mary and Perry Lesh.

He graduated from Shortridge High School and enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a gunner on a merchant marine ship.

After the war, he attended Wabash, where he was a member of the Glee Club, the golf team, and Beta Theta Pi. After graduation he went to work for the C.P. Lesh Paper Company, eventually taking over the presidency in 1963. He retired from the paper company in 1985, but continued to have an active role in Holcomb and Hoke, serving as chairman of the board until the late 1990s.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 49 years, Nancy, and his two sons, Frederick Jr. ’73 and David.

He is survived by his son, Perry Lesh; six grandchildren; and three great grandchildren.

Richard G. “Dick” Wilson, 87, died August 29, 2015 in Bradenton, FL. Born August 18, 1928, in Illinois, he was the son of Geraldine and Norman Wilson. While attending Wabash, Wilson was a member of the Glee Club and Delta Tau Delta.

Wilson was retired from IBM International Foundation.

He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Wilson, 595 Key Largo Court, Bradenton, FL 34203; and children, Donna, Richard II, Denice, and Scott Wilson.

51 Vito D. Palumbo, 88, died March 25 in Leo, IN.

Born in Hartford, MI, he was the son of Grazia and Dominic Palumbo.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta.

He was a U.S. Army Korean War veteran.

Palumbo was the vice president and secretary of Franklin National Life Insurance Company for more than 20 years. He ended his career as a sales agent for AFLAC. He was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Beryl Palumbo; parents; and brothers, Louie and Oronzo Palumbo.

He is survived by his children, Diana Rupley, Deborah Russ, Karen Woodrum, Susan Bender, and Steven Palumbo; sisters, Grace Gardt and Rose McKimson; 17 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

52 Thomas Bastian “Tom” Moser, 85, died

November 22 in Excelsior, MN. Born April 15, 1930, in Indianapolis, Moser was a member of a barbershop quartet; played trumpet, piano, and guitar all through grade and high school; and continued to play the piano and guitar the rest of his life.

While attending Wabash, Moser was a member of the track and football teams and Beta Theta Pi.

He was a salesman in the paperboard packaging industry. Pillsbury, his largest account, thought so highly of him that they honored him by hosting his retirement party.

He is survived by his wife, Joan Moser, 21670 Fairview Street, Excelsior, MN 55331; children, Jane Lundgren, Anne Ryan, and Jim Moser; and seven grandchildren.

William Harold “Bill” Ross, 85, died February 29 in Kenilworth, IL. Born May 26, 1930, in Chicago, he was the son of Margaret and Harold Ross.

Ross graduated from New Trier High School in 1948, and played varsity baseball. He attended Wabash for three semesters and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He graduated from Cornell University’s Hotel Management School, after which he earned an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Ross was a U.S. Navy supply officer during the Korean War and was stationed in Hawaii.

Returning to Chicago in the mid-1960s, Ross began a career of more than 50 years in the financial industry, working at Merrill Lynch, William Blair, and Morgan Stanley.

As a young teenager, Ross built and operated ham radios, an interest he sustained throughout his life.

He lectured at the Winnetka Historical Society about his world-class collection of early radio-show premiums featuring shows such as Gangbusters and The Lone Ranger.

Ross is survived by his wife, Pamela Ross, 300 Oxford Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043; daughter, Katharine Ross; brothers, Donald and Jeffrey Ross; and sisters, Diana Ruth and Dulcy Brainard.

54 John C. Marquardt, 82, died October 2, 2015 in

Sister Bay, WI. Born January 22, 1933, Marquardt was a member of Kappa Sigma while attending Wabash.

Marquardt was an air traffic control specialist retiring in 1997.

He is survived by his wife, Alice Marquardt, 10554 Applewood Drive, #208, Sister Bay, WI 54234.

John George Pantzer Jr., 83, died March 7 in Indianapolis, IN. Born April 6, 1932, in Indianapolis, he was the son of Susanne and John Pantzer.

Pantzer attended Shortridge High School and completed his Eagle Scout prior to graduation in 1950.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta and Scarlet Masque.

Pantzer earned his medical degree from Indiana University Medical School in 1958. After an internship at Baylor University in Houston, TX, he returned to Indiana University to complete both general surgery and plastic surgery residencies.

Pantzer became a diplomat of the board of plastic and reconstructive surgery in 1967 and had a private practice in Indianapolis. While practicing, he served as chief of staff at Methodist Hospital and was active in both the state and Marion County medical societies.

FROM T HE

NAWM

NAWM President RICK CAVANAUGH ’76, his son, SEAN ’16, and brother, GARY ’79.

“What Are You Going to Do Next?”

BECAUSE THE THEME OF THIS ISSUE IS “CHANGE,” WM Editor Steve Charles asked me to offer some musings on the subject, as I recently and unexpectedly got to make one of life’s big changes: retirement.

For the past 36 years I have been defined by my profession: being an attorney. I practiced in government, at a small law firm, in-house at a food manufacturing company, in-house at an insurance company, and for the past 29 years in-house at a public utility. I survived five of seven mergers or changes in control over that time period. Then, on March 31, I retired (in HR speak, I took advantage of a “severance opportunity”).

The question I’ve heard most often when I mention that I retired is: What are you going to do next?

I now understand better how many graduating seniors in the Class of 2016 may feel when getting a similar version of this question. I’ve seen the pained look on the faces of my son and nephew—both Wabash seniors—when the question gets tossed their way. In some ways I feel the same way because I don’t have a ready answer.

The truth is that when my employer approached me with the severance opportunity, I had no plan. I was working toward a 2017 retirement date. I was just starting to think about retirement life: Perhaps I could spend some time working at the legal aid clinic; maybe I would get recertified to do some mediation or arbitration. I talked about spending more time in Colorado. For years I’ve joked about being a greeter at the ski resort so that I could fulfill my dream of being a ski bum.

So, do Patti and I travel to far-off lands? For now, Patti is committed to her job as a child advocate in the Marion County Juvenile Court, so extensive travel with her is not possible.

The ski resort is closed for the season.

In the near term, April and so far May have been busy for me at Wabash. Our long-time Director of Alumni and Parent Programs, Tom Runge ’71, also retired on March 31. So there have been some things I could do for the College as Steve Hoffman ’85 moved from Advancement to Alumni Relations. I was lucky enough to be able to work on another very successful Day of Giving. There are construction projects coming to a close that involve input on signs and plaques.

In addition, I’ve worked on the planning for the Class of ’76 40th Reunion coming up at Big Bash in June. Not to mention dealing with the family logistics of Commencement for my son and nephew. I know that my son and nephew are anxious to see their future unfold.

However, for me these have all been pleasant distractions from dealing with the question, What am I going to do next?

I just don’t know right now!

Yours in Wabash,

—RICK CAVANAUGH ’76

President, NAWM SPRING 2016 | 55

IN MEMORY FROM THE ARCHIVES

INVISIBLE ENEMY—The Phi Delta Theta house (above) became the campus hospital when the worldwide flu pandemic of 1918 reached Wabash.

Hundreds of students had participated in the induction ceremony (right) for the Student Army Training Corps on October 1, just one week before the first student showed symptoms of the disease.

The barracks for the SATC (below) were located where today’s Chapel stands.

A

Greater

THREAT T H A N WA R

56 | WABASH MAGAZINE

WABASH WAS ONE OF MANY COLLEGES to have a Student Army Training Corps (SATC) program during WWI. The number of men in college in America had plummeted, raising the fear of a shortage of men to serve as leaders during the war and after. The SATC was created as a way for young men to serve while getting their education.

The program proved quite popular and 525 men came to Wabash to join it.

Yet during the war years an even greater threat arose. The 1918 worldwide flu pandemic killed three times as many people as WWI. The first case at Wabash arrived just one week after the SATC swearing-in ceremony, as described in Wabash College: The First Hundred Years: “The two companies had scarcely lined up when two men pitched forward suddenly to the floor. They were being carried out when another man in the ranks fainted. The man next to him bent to pick him up, and he too fainted. Before roll call had been completed 10 men had fainted in the sight of the badly demoralized corps… an announcement was made in the afternoon of the suspension of all classroom work for an indefinite time.”

All of the sick students were taken to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, which was being turned into a camp hospital.

Again, from The First Hundred Years: “That night there were 35 men in the hospital. By October 12 there were 95 men crowding every room and nearly every hallway of the transformed Phi Delt house, seven of them with serious cases of pneumonia.

“In all, 120 cases were received by the hospital during the run of the epidemic, and not a single boy lost his life.”

THAT REMARKABLE STATISTIC was thanks to a great extent to the care provided by the women of the town, “an outpouring of energy nothing short of heroic,” as described in The First Hundred Years: “Miss Mary Jolley, of Crawfordsville, head nurse, remained steadily at her post in spite of the fact that she herself was attacked by influenza.

Volunteers stepped forward to help her. Three of these volunteers were trained nurses—Miss May Huston, Miss Edith Hunt, and Miss Ethel Newell. There was one tragedy…the third of the

trained nurses to volunteer, Miss Ethel Newell, had offered her services in spite of the fact that she was convalescing from a very recent attack of pneumonia. She knew the risk was great, and took it. Pneumonia returned, and she died at the home of her parents…”

By October 24, 1918, the outbreak had run its course and all classes and activities resumed.

Less than a month later the war ended and the barracks were demolished and sold for scrap. By the end of the year Wabash returned to normal.

Ethel Newell is forgotten today, but her sacrifice and the sacrifices of the other members of the Crawfordsville community to help Wabash through that troubled time can serve to remind us that often the worst of times can bring out the best in people.

—BETH SWIFT,

Archivist

“

Ethel Newell knew the risk was great, and took it.

”

SPRING 2016 | 57

IN MEMORY

In 1978, he served as president of the Ohio Valley Society of Plastic Surgeons. He also was the primary plastic surgeon for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and provided burn and reconstructive surgery for injured drivers. He retired from practicing medicine in 1992.

He was a member of the Indianapolis Museum of Art board of directors. After he retired he served as a docent, giving tours to junior-high-school students.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Anne Pantzer, 100 Gregg Road, Indianapolis, IN 46260; children, Susan Hyre, Elizabeth Wilder, Cynthia Radcliff, John Pantzer, Julia Church, and Thomas Pantzer; and 18 grandchildren.

57Charles J. “Charlie” Switzer, 80, died November 24, 2015, in Bakersfield, CA. Born August 28, 1935, in Indianapolis, he was the son of Ollie and Dorothy Switzer.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of Scarlet Masque and Lambda Chi Alpha.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After his discharge, Switzer attended and graduated from Purdue University with a master’s degree in language.

He moved to Bakersfield, CA, to teach French and Spanish at West High School and remained until 1994. He transferred as an original faculty member to Ridgeview High School, and he was the Spanish Club advisor and took many of his students on trips to Mexico. During this time, he also worked nights at Bakersfield Adult School teaching English as a second language. He retired in 2007.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Ellen Switzer; parents; and siblings, Patricia McLeaster, Mary Ellen Allen, and Harold Switzer.

He is survived by his son, Philip Switzer; sisters, Charlene Stratton and Jacqueline Coers; brother, Charles McLeaster; and three grandchildren.

59 Joseph A. “Joe” Chester, 78, died January 16 in Portage, IN. Chester graduated from East Gary Edison High School and attended Wabash College for five semesters. He also attended Ball State University.

Chester coached CYO football at Saints Peter and Paul for 15 years. He also coached CYO girls’ basketball, Merrillville girls’ softball, Merrillville Little League baseball, and CYO-high school basketball, and was the first coach of girls’ softball at Andrean High School in 1984.

He worked at U.S. Steel Sheet and Tin Mill and retired in 1999.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Barbara Chester, 5213 Westchester Avenue, Portage, IN 46368; children, Joseph, Thomas, and Annie; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; sisters, Jean Prusiecki and Julie Thomas; and brother, Frank Chester.

Herbert Noble “Herb” Hill, 78, died January 8 in Indianapolis.

Born July 4, 1937, in Granite City, IL, he was the son of Mary and Elmer Hill.

Hill went to Park High School and played football and baseball. While attending Wabash, he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

He graduated from Indiana University Medical School in 1963 and completed an internship at Methodist Hospital in family practice.

Hill worked as a family doctor with a private practice on the northwest side of Indianapolis for 30 years, and the southeast side for 20 years.

He volunteered at the Good News Clinic and participated in mission trips to Central America and China.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and sister, Patricia Remy.

Hill is survived by his wife, Gloria Hill, 1055 Smock Drive, Greenwood, IN 46143; children, Bob, Maureen, and Laura; six grandchildren; sister, Merry Kay Nussbaumer; and brother, Arthur Hill.

62 Robert Allen “Bob” Koonz, 74, died February 1

in Evanston, IL. Born February 21, 1941, in Chicago, IL, he was the son of Gladys and Carl Koonz.

After graduating from Downers Grove High School, Koonz attended Wabash and was an independent. He received his degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign in 1965.

Koonz taught chemistry/AP chemistry at New Trier High School for more than 30 years. He retired from teaching in 2003.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Charles Koonz.

63 Donald L. Revere, 75, died February 16 in

Rensselaer, IN. Born February 14, 1941, he was an independent while attending Wabash.

Revere had been the vice president of strategic planning at Welsh Oil Inc. in Valparaiso, IN. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Dorothy Revere, 5455 West State Road 14, Rensselaer, IN 47978; children, Brian, Sandra Bricker, and Rebecca Cawby; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

SEND YOUR LATEST NEWS TO:

Class Notes Editor Karen Handley 765-361-6396 handleyk@wabash.edu

58 | WABASH MAGAZINE

William T. “Bill” Wilson, 74, died April 28 in Farmington, IL. Born May 31, 1941, in Peoria, IL, he was the son of Mary Louise and David Wilson.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of the basketball team and Delta Tau Delta.

He was the director of military contracts for Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, TX, from 1968 to 2001.

Wilson was a volunteer for the Farmington Historical Museum and a devoted participant in the early morning “Spit & Whittle” Club, a group of friends who met for coffee.

He was preceded in death by two spouses, Jane Blust and Donna Taylor; and brother, Dean Wilson ’65.

He is survived by his wife, Karen Wilson, 255 E. Central Street, Farmington, IL 61531; children, Sarah Oest, Laura Sebastion, Steven Wilson, and Jeffrey Wilson; eight stepchildren; five grandchildren; 12 step-grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; brother, Jim Wilson; stepbrother, Jay McMaster; and stepsister, Sue Myer.

64 John E. Batchelder, 73, died April 21 in Carmel, IN. Born December 11, 1942, in San Diego, CA, he was the son of Minna and William Batchelder. He graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. While at Wabash, he was a member of Beta Theta Pi. Batchelder graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine and completed his internship in internal medicine at St. Vincent Hospital, his residency in internal medicine at Indiana University Hospital, and his fellowship in cardiology at Indiana University Hospital.

He went on to subspecialize in electrophysiology, completing his fellowship at Indiana University Hospital. Batchelder was in private practice at Community Heart and Vascular Hospital in Indianapolis. He started the first cardiology program at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, IN, in 1975.

Batchelder was preceded in death by his parents and brother, William.

He is survived by his wife, Frances Batchelder, 10548 Coppergate, Carmel, IN 46032; children, Susan Loucks, Dawn Loren, Thomas, Christian, and Eric Batchelder; stepchildren, Brian Guy, Jennifer Kistler and Emily Kidder; nine grandchildren; nine stepgrandchildren; and sister, Patricia Scahill.

65 August John Daesener, 73, died December 10,

2015, in Bridgeville, DE. Born August 8, 1942, in Neptune, NJ, he was a member of the Glee Club and Phi Delta Theta while attending Wabash.

Daesener returned home to work at the familyowned American Hotel. Later he became an owner and the vice president of the Hawthorne Sommerfield in Freehold, NJ, one the largest United States manufacturers and distributors of Christmas cards.

Daesener, his brother, Richard, and other partners then built the Freehold Sheraton Gardens Hotel.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, Janet Daesener, 140 Widgeon Way, Bridgeville, DE 19933; children, August, Richard, Samantha, Sheri, Michelle, Charles, Jon, William, and Robert; brother, Richard; and 13 grandchildren.

Raymond M. “Ray” Hartwell, 72, died March 5 in Peoria, IL. Born July 8, 1943, in Appleton, WI, he was a son of Alaine and Edward Hartwell.

Hartwell graduated from Richwoods High School in 1961. While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Scarlet Masque and Phi Gamma Delta.

Hartwell served in the U.S. Army Intelligence from 1965 to 1968.

He attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, earning a degree in the Czech language. Hartwell received the Martin Kellogg Award for linguistic excellence. He also served at the 511th Military Intelligence base in Fuerth, West Germany as a German and Czech interpreter.

Hartwell worked for Caterpillar Inc. for 38 years in sales and engine marketing. He retired in 2008. In the early 1970s, Hartwell was the company's engine representative for Southeast Asia.

He is survived by his wife, Connie Hartwell, 2709 N. Rustic Ridge, Peoria, IL 61604; children, Kristina Williams, Jennifer Gaherty, and Cynthia Hattan; nine grandchildren; sister, Carol Hartwell; and brother-inlaw, Howard Hammer ’68.

Eddie Dean Powell, 72, died December 6, 2015 in Sullivan, IN. Born April 28, 1943, in Linton, IN, he was the son of Twanette and Edward Powell.

He graduated from Linton Stockton High School in 1961. While attending Wabash, Powell lettered in basketball and was a member of the Sphinx Club and Phi Delta Theta. He graduated from Indiana University School of Law. Powell moved to Sullivan in 1969 and joined George Taylor in his law practice and practiced law for 46 years. Powell was the attorney for REMC for more than 43 years. He was also the attorney for Peabody Coal Company and Sullivan County Community Hospital for more than 40 years.

Powell was an avid collector of fountain pens, antiques, and knives.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a granddaughter.

He is survived by his wife, Jo Linda Lyttle Powell, PO Box 310, Sullivan, IN 47882; children, Jennifer Willis and Jared Powell ’93; stepsons, Quincy Lyttle and Caleb Lyttle ’06; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; four stepgrandchildren; and sister, Jorja Marquart.

66 Ralph G. Hesler II, 71, died December 1, 2015,

in Vista, CA. While attending Wabash, Hesler was a member of

JOHN PANTZER JR. ’54 WAS THE PRIMARY PLASTIC SURGEON FOR THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND PROVIDED BURN AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY FOR INJURED DRIVERS.

the Sphinx Club and Phi Gamma Delta.

During the Vietnam War, he was a captain and physician in the U.S. Army.

Following the war, Hesler served the community as a vascular and general surgeon at Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside, CA, for 43 years.

He is survived by his wife, Christine Hesler, 2095 W. Vista Way, Suite 218, Vista, CA 92083; children, Lisa, Ryan, Sharon, Cherilyn, and Michael; and eight grandchildren.

Michael Paul Jones, 75, died November 23 in Sylva, NC. Born October 31, 1940, Jones attended Wabash for four semesters and was an independent.

He obtained his PhD from the University of Texas at Austin in 1973.

From 1974 to 2000 he taught at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. He is survived by his brother, Ross Jones.

James B. Robinson, 71, died January 12 in Cedar Falls, IA. Born September 7, 1944, in Indianapolis, he was the son of Mary and James Robinson.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of the WNDY Radio Station and was an independent.

Robinson received his PhD in religious studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Robinson was an associate professor of religion at the University of Northern Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and a sister, Sarah Robinson.

He is survived by his wife, Linda Turner, 1204 Clay Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613; and son, Darius Robinson.

Gerald Chester Sunko, 71, died February 8, 2016 in Winnetka, IL. Born May 26, 1944, he was the son of Betty and Theodore Sunko.

Sunko was a graduate of Mount Prospect High School. He attended Wabash for four semesters and was an independent. He graduated from the University of Illinois and the Chicago Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine.

He served in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant in the medical corp.

Sunko was a physician at Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center of Chicago.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and his twin brother, Paul Sunko.

He is survived by his adopted son, Antonio Gianola, and brother, Robert Sunko.

67 Gregory Douglas Ball, 70, died January 4 in St.

Joseph, MI. Born November 18, 1945, in Muncie, IN, he was the son of Esther and Philip Ball.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of Sigma Chi. Ball graduated from Indiana University School of Law in 1972.

After practicing law in Indianapolis for one year, he moved to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. After five years in the Caribbean, he returned to Indiana and served as the chief public defender in Richmond, IN. In his 43-year career, Ball was an esteemed trial lawyer in his practice areas of personal injury, civil litigation, and criminal law matters. Along the journey he had many remarkable exploits: He managed his own law practice while weekend-farming 200 acres of organic crops and livestock (a decade before organic food was even popular); he competed in outrigger canoe paddling regattas across the Hawaiian Island chain; he dabbled as a mule-skinner on Molokai’s Kalaupapa Trail.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Ball, 2104 Morton Avenue, St. Joseph, MI 49085; children, Summer Galvis and Rory Ball; five grandchildren; father, Philip Ball; sister, Susan Ball; and brother, Thomas Ball.

John Christopher “Chris” Bird, 70, died April 2 in Dallas, TX. Born December 18, 1945, in New York City, Bird was raised in Garland, TX. He graduated from Jesuit High School in 1963. While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Speakers Bureau, WNDY radio station, and Phi Gamma Delta.

Bird graduated from SMU School of Law in 1970.

He began his legal career with Geary Brice Barron & Stahl and spent the next 41 years practicing law in Dallas, TX. Board-certified in residential and commercial real estate law, a member of the Texas Real Estate Law Exam Commission, and a multiple-year Super Lawyer, Bird was known for his expertise in high-rise condominium projects and homeowner's associations and spent the last three decades managing his own law practice.

He is survived by his wife, Patti Bird, 6335 W. Northwest Highway, Apt. 714, Dallas, TX 75225; children, Brian, Catherine, Caroline, Colin, and Bridget; and 11 grandchildren.

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IN MEMORY

70 Wayne Franklin Middendorf, 67, died January

20 in Athens, GA. Born November 27, 1948, in Buffalo, NY, he was the son of Elaine and Earl Middendorf. While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Glee Club, Concert Band, Scarlet Masque, Sphinx Club, wrestling team, and Phi Gamma Delta.

After training at the Mayo Clinic, he began practicing pulmonary medicine in Athens, GA, in 1980.

During his medical career, he pioneered the cessation of smoking within the hospitals and improved pulmonary and critical care in Athens. Middendorf served as president of the medical staff at Athens Regional Hospital as well as Saint Mary's Hospital in Athens.

He is survived by his wife, Karen Middendorf, 665 Jefferson River Road, Athens, GA 30607; children, Benjamin, Katharine, Christopher, and Emily; one grandchild; mother; sister, Carolyn; and his twin brother, Bruce Middendorf ’70.

71 Russell R. Dart, 66, died March 17 in Odon, IN.

Born April 29, 1949, in Lafayette, IN, he was the son of Velma and Benjamin Dart.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Glee Club, and Concert Band, and was an independent.

Dart earned his master’s degree from Indiana University in 1976. He was a teacher at North Daviess High School and retired in 2013.

Dart was a member of Second Mt. Olive Church, Odon Lyons Club, Gideons International, Science Club,

Masonic Lodge, White River Antique Association, and Hoosier Heritage Harmonizers. He was a Red Cross advisor at the North Daviess High School and a board member of the town of Odon.

He is survived by his wife, Sue Dart, 300 West Main Street, Odon, IN 47562; children, Christian and Joel Dart; two grandchildren; and sister, Diane McGiffen.

Carl Richard Dolmetsch III, 68, died January 10 in Williamsburg, VA. Born November 5, 1948, in Des Moines, IA, he graduated from James Blair High School. Dolmetsch attended Wabash for three semesters and was a member of WNDY radio station and Tau Kappa Epsilon.

Dolmetsch served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. He graduated from George Mason University and received an MS degree in industrial psychology from Virginia Tech.

Dolmetsch worked as a database processor for several computer corporations in northern Virginia and Newport News.

He is survived by his father, Carl Dolmetsch Jr.; daughter, Alicia Welch; and brother, Christopher Dolmetsch.

75 Kenneth Lee DeHart, 62, died March 17 in Mount

Pleasant, SC. Born March 26, 1953, in Muncie, IN, he was the son of Betty and Kenneth DeHart.

While attending Wabash, he served as student body

president and graduated summa cum laude. DeHart graduated from Indiana University with a doctorate of medicine and went on to complete his residency at Northwestern University in Chicago in 1982.

DeHart served as medical director at Logansport (IN) Memorial Hospital and St. Josephs (IN) Memorial Hospital before moving to Myrtle Beach in 1986.

DeHart was a board-certified emergency medicine specialist and was the medical director at Grand Strand Regional Hospital from 1986 to 1992.

DeHart founded Carolina Health Specialists, a multispecialty physician practice and successfully brought more than 100 physicians to Myrtle Beach.

In 1998, he was awarded the prestigious James D. Mills Outstanding Contribution to Emergency Medicine by the American College of Emergency Physicians.

He is survived by his wife, Stephanie DeHart, 308 Quince Street, Mount Pleasant, SC 29464; children, Kenneth III, Lexi, Christopher, and Nicholas; parents; brother, Dan DeHart ’89; sister, Alice Battas; and cousin, Wayne O. Adams ’71.

79 Edwin Fred “Ed” Knipstein, 58, died December 19, 2015, in Lubbock, TX. Born December 31, 1956, he was the son of Daisy and Edwin Knipstein.

While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Sphinx Club and was an independent.

Knipstein continued his education at the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine in

Facts tumbled out of my father’s brain like salt from a loosely-capped shaker. His fascination with life permeated everything he touched.

Miles Vincent Sullivan, 99, died February 27 in Dallas, TX. He was born June 19, 1917, in Fargo, ND, and was raised in Winona, MN. Postponing his studies for service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Sullivan finished his master’s and PhD in physical chemistry at Purdue University.

While at Purdue, he met his wife, Evelyn Burns. They settled in Summit, NJ, where he worked for 35 years as an inventor and a researcher at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ. During that time, Sullivan earned many patents, including a link that provided energy to the Mars Rover.

After retirement from Bell in 1982, Sullivan lived in Hendersonville, NC. Of the more than 90 patents, Sullivan is perhaps best known for the drinking bird that sits on the edge of a glass, perpetually bobbing in water without any internal or external energy source. President Herbert Hoover had one on his desk in the Oval Office. Albert Einstein stayed up all night at one point, puzzled about how it worked. When asked in the morning

60 | WABASH MAGAZINE

Chicago and graduated with a doctor of podiatric medicine in 1983. Knipstein moved to Lubbock and began a successful private practice.

He was preceded in death by his infant son, Brian.

He is survived by his wife, Lorraine Knipstein, 3702 21st Street, Ste 203, Lubbock, TX 79410; children, Benjamin, Michael, Jenni, and Billy; one grand- daughter; parents; sisters, Sue Method and Sally Gasaway; and brother, Charles Knipstein.

83 Lloyd George Stull, 54, died February 15 at the

University of Washington after battling leukemia.

Born April 22, 1961, he was a 1979 graduate of Southmont High School. While attending Wabash, he was a member of the Pre-Law Society and was an independent.

Stull was a successful author, educator, and entrepreneur.

He published his first novel, The Souls of the Quaking Pond, in November 2015. Stull was proud of his historical fiction set in Indiana. He wrote the book in less than six months, during a time when he was recovering from a bone marrow transplant. Although the recovery period was a painful struggle, Stull found the energy to write from after midnight until the early hours of the morning. Proceeds from sales of the book are being donated to a proceeds of Lloyd’s book to the family of a young man from Montgomery County who is fighting leukemia.

Stull is survived by his husband, Dr. James Lee, 15309 57th Place W, Edmonds, WA 98026.

84 Jeffrey W. Scripture, 53, died December 26,

2015 in Indianapolis, IN. Born February 7, 1962, he was the son of Zoe and Danny Scripture.

While attending Wabash, Scripture was a member of the swimming/diving team and Sigma Chi. Scripture was an attorney with Harrison & Moberly in Indianapolis.

He is survived by his wife, Tricia Scripture, 5235 Fawn Hill Terrace, Indianapolis, IN 46226; children, Eric and Max; parents; brother, Kevin; and sister, Dena.

07 Joshua Wade Paul, 30, died December 13, 2015, in Bloomington, IN. Born January 30, 1985, in Columbus, IN, he was the son of Jane and Randy Paul.

Paul graduated from Bloomington High School North. While attending Wabash, he was a member of the tennis team and was an independent. Paul had traveled to South Africa for an off-campus study and placed third in the Baldwin Oratorical Contest.

He received the Stephens-Hall Senior Scholarship Award, and the Distinguished Senior Psychology Award, and graduated magna cum laude.

Paul returned to Wabash as a guest of the psychology department’s Annual Senior Research Symposium to speak with students about careers in his field.

Paul graduated from Valparaiso University with a master’s in psychology in 2008 and his MBA in 2015.

Upon completing his master’s degree, he was named the executive director of AccessAbilities Inc. in Bloomington. His most recent position was at Meadows Hospital as director of development and partial hospital programs.

He was preceded in death by his mother and grandparents, Dave and Joan Burt.

He is survived by his wife, Holly Paul, 4788 E. State Road 46, Bloomington, IN 47401; father; and siblings, Kate, Kristi, Jackie, Megan Stahly-Paul, and Samantha Paul.

14 Jose Saul Perez Jr., 24, died December 12,

2015, in Schererville, IN. Born June 10, 1991, in East Chicago, IN, he was the son of Angela Arriaga and Jose Perez Sr. He graduated from Lake Central High School in 2009.

While attending Wabash, Perez was a member of Theta Delta Chi. Perez was an avid Chicago Cubs and Chicago Black Sox fan. Perez attended IUPUI in Indianapolis.

He was preceded in death by his grandmothers, Lydia Chavey and Wanda Ragland.

He is survived by his parents; siblings, Darius, Ariana, and Gianna Arriaga; grandfather; and a great-grandparent.

MILES VINCENT SULLIVAN ’41 whether he had figured it out, he shook his head, but then proceeded to disassemble the bird for his answer.

Residing at Friendship Village in Kalamazoo, MI since 2000, Miles was a member of Calvary Bible Church.

He is survived by his children, Jan Kehlenbeck, Doug, and Anne Sullivan; six grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.

A remembrance

Just one of the many PhD inventor-scientists at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, my father’s credentials were fairly ordinary in that setting. But, he was far from an ordinary man and far from an ordinary father. As much as he loved pure science, he loved his family more.

Patience came easily to my father, and he never seemed to tire of his three children’s unscientific minds.

“But how does this work, Dad?” was our perpetual theme. His answers were thematic, too: The sensor filament inside the toaster says to the release mechanism: “Our toast looks just crusty enough to eject now.”

The battery’s positive charge says to the negative: “Potentially, we could make a complete circuit.”

It could be laser beams, computer chips, the little bobbing bird that made my father internationally famous, or just the dial on a washing machine—in the end, they all assumed human personalities.

Hardship can inspire humor and creativity—my father was proof of that. After his father died, a one-room Winona storefront doubled as living quarters for my father, his brother, and their mother. A small curtain near the back of the store did its best to partition off the boys’ bed from the rest of the cramped store.

—Continued on Page 62

SPRING 2016 | 61

IN MEMORY

Continued from Page 61

By the end of high school it was apparent that his mind was capable of great things, but a lack of money stubbornly blocked my father's college aspirations. Months after graduation, an accidental meeting with a former math teacher settled the issue.

“You need to be—you must be—in college Miles; I will get you there,” the teacher said, single-handedly arranging a full scholarship to Wabash.

With the ink on his undergraduate diploma barely dry, my father was drafted into World War II service— his main residence, the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. After the war, Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ quickly hired my father as a member of their semiconductor technology team. He soon acquired a series of patents, including photo-mask lithography systems used in computer chip circuitry. He also developed new contacts that allowed energy to flow away from solar panels and into energy-consuming machines.

These contacts are still widely used in communications systems as well as in experimental projects like the Mars Rovers.

Facts tumbled out of my father’s brain like salt from a loosely capped shaker. His fascination with life permeated everything he touched.

Pursued by lawyers and marketers attempting to partner with him in business, my father stubbornly refused to stray too far from his love of pure science.

But he also liked having fun. In 1946 he patented the little toy bird that seems to bob endlessly for water without an apparent energy source. He called the little toy “the drinking bird,” and probably didn't dream that it would eventually be considered for advancing water irrigation systems in the Middle East, using the sun as its only energy source.

Albert Einstein’s encounter with the bird was reported in a 1964 TIME magazine story. After several days of theorizing about what propelled the little bird, the great physicist's attempts at unraveling the bird's secret proved futile.

With the inside scoop on the bird's mechanics ingrained in our brains, my brother, sister, and I used to explain to our science teachers the details Einstein had missed. It was our brief moment of glory in the science spotlight, except for our run- ins with some of the lab-coated, bifocaled physicists at the laboratories. These colorful characters always struck us as an equal mix of kind, scary and quirky.

It was easy to see why my father fit in so well at the labs. It was a place where the building's passkey appeared to be: “Above all else, let’s never be routine—if it’s new and different, let’s develop it, and let’s revel in it.”

—from “The Father of Inventions” by Anne Sullivan Read "The Father of Inventions" and the secret of the drinking bird’s power source at WM Online.

62 | WABASH MAGAZINE

ROBERT “SKIP” LONG JR. ’71

What I remember most about Skip was his great smile . . .

Whether you were a stranger or one of his closest friends, Skip let you know he was happy to see you.

Robert "Skip" Long Jr., 67, died on November 19, 2015, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Okatie, SC. Born January 23, 1949, in Oak Park, IL, he was the son of the late Robert Hargrave and Florence Long.

A native of Elmhurst, IL, Skip graduated from York High School in 1967.

He majored in political science and speech, was a member of Phi Gamma Delta, pitched for the baseball team, and was a voice of Wabash sports. Skip was a member of the Sphinx Club and graduated in 1971 with Phi Beta Kappa honors and as a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

He was his classmates’ class agent for many years.

After a brief stint at Wabash as a recruiter, Skip worked for Leo Burnett Company in Chicago in an account management career that spanned four decades. He retired in 2013 as president of New Ventures.

He was a member of the Lutheran church with a strong faith, and he was a passionate history buff and a lifelong reader. He loved a wide range of music, including classical, the Beatles, jazz and hard rock. Skip explored the globe extensively during the 30 years he had international responsibilities at Leo Burnett. He and his family were fortunate to experience living in Tokyo and becoming immersed in Japanese culture for six years.

Golf was another of Skip's passions. A visible figure in a signature golf vest, he took advantage of opportunities to play different courses, meet fellow golfers and share his extensive library of golf jokes.

In 1984, Skip wed Cathy Gillis and they were blessed with three children.

Their daughter, Tracey, preceded her father in death.

He is survived by his wife, Cathy Long, 17 S. Oak Forest Drive, Callawassie Island, Okatie, SC 29909; and children, Robert Long and Jennifer Long.

A remembrance

Everyone who met Skip quickly learned how much he loved sports. When given the opportunity our sophomore year to broadcast Wabash football and basketball games on the college radio station, WNDY, he jumped at it. To our good fortune, Skip invited Joe Cassell and me to join his broadcast team, and for the next three years we traveled all over the Midwest bringing Wabash play-by-play action to the faithful in Crawfordsville.

Joe and I called him “The Voice of Little Giants Sports,” and he was a very good “Voice” indeed. Thanks in part, I'm sure, to the work of professors Vic Powell and Joe O'Rourke, Skip had a silky smooth delivery, abhorred dead air, and religiously adhered to Red Barber's #1 Rule of Play-By-Play: Give the score of the game at least once every minute. Years later, when I listened to tapes of our broadcasts, I was struck by how good Skip was.

My most vivid recollection of a football broadcast was at Ohio Wesleyan. There was no room for visiting teams' broadcast crews in their dinky press box so they erected a makeshift broadcast booth surrounded by Visqueen on the roof. The temperature was in the 20s during the entire game, and we had to take turns doing the play-by-play because our voices were shaking so badly.

We had great times covering Wabash basketball games. One of my favorite mementos from those days was a photo of Skip, Joe, and me in our headphones broadcasting a game against Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse alongside Indiana sports legend Tom Carnegie, who was doing the play-by-play for an Indianapolis radio station.

By our junior baseball season Skip was our most experienced starting pitcher. A crafty southpaw, Skip had a

good curve ball and excellent control of the strike zone … most of the time. We opened that season with a double-header at the University of Louisville, and Skip started the second game. In those days, an elevated expressway was located outside the left-field fence of Louisville's baseball field. Early in the game, Skip left a pitch up over the plate, and the Cardinal hitter crushed the ball onto the expressway—well over 450 feet away.

As he rounded the bases, Cassell and I, who were playing third and first bases, respectively, converged at the mound to offer encouragement to our buddy, Skip, or so I thought. Before I could offer any words of support, Cassell opined that he had never seen a ball hit that far.

Of course, Skip's initial reaction was outrage, but in a split second all three of us found ourselves using our gloves to conceal our laughter from the coach, who was wondering from the dugout what in the hell was going on.

When we graduated and I learned that Skip had been elected into Phi Beta Kappa, frankly I was amazed.

I'd always known that Skip took his studies seriously. But Skip gave his time and talents to countless worthwhile pursuits for the good of Wabash. As I reflected on all the time he'd spent in our four years playing baseball, broadcasting football and basketball games, volunteering in the WNDY studio and the Admissions Department, and being a good fraternity brother and a great friend to so many people in the Wabash community, Skip's recognition as one of the top students in our class was very impressive.

But what I remember most about Skip was his great smile—and happily I have plenty of photos to remind me.

Whether you were a stranger or one of his closest friends, Skip let you know he was happy to see you. It's one of the reasons the Admissions Department hired him, along with Martella and Mike Dill, to spend the first few years after graduation traversing the country to recruit students to the “Bash.”

When Linda and I got married just a few months after graduation, Skip was one of our groomsmen. He gave us a set of beautiful imported beer steins as a wedding gift that we still have. Tonight when I sit down for Christmas dinner with my family, I'll raise one of them in memory of my old teammate and friend, "The Voice."

—Wayne (the other Skip) Adams ’71, December 25, 2015

STEPHEN H. WEBB ’83 Stephen H. Webb, 54, died March 5 in Brownsburg, IN. Born March 13, 1961, he was the son of Helen and Carl Webb.

Webb was a graduate of Warren Central High School, where he wrote his first book, History of Warren Central, and was an avid debater. He graduated summa cum laude from Wabash; and wrote for The Bachelor, Barrickman’s Revenge, and Wabash Review, and was a member of the Sphinx Club and Sigma Chi. Webb received his PhD with distinction from the University of Chicago.

Webb taught religion and philosophy for 25 years at Wabash, and he recently taught at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis and served in several prison ministries. Webb wrote more than a dozen academic books on a wide range of theological topics, from rhetoric to gift giving to vegetarianism to Bob Dylan and more.

In recent years, Webb published a great deal on Mormonism, including books on the LDS faith with Oxford University Press, where the majority of his books were published. Additionally, Webb wrote hundreds of essays, articles, book reviews, chapters in books, and Web articles.

He is survived by his wife, Diane Timmerman, 1547 Redsunset Drive, Brownsburg, IN 46112; children, Charis, Barek, Asher, Teka, and Tsehai; parents; and brother, Tom Webb.

Delivering this year’s baccalaureate sermon in May, Father Vince Druding ’99 began: “I would ask if we could observe a moment of silence to honor the soul and memory of Professor Stephen Webb, a beloved spouse and father, a passionate intellectual, a devoted teacher of philosophy and religion, a man of real living faith, and an encouraging voice and friend in my own journey through Wabash and toward the priesthood.”

Read remembrances of Professor Webb at Afterhours: www.afterhours180.com

SPRING 2016 | 63

VOICES

Letter to an Old Friend Greg Hoch can’t imagine

himself without a dog.

by GREG HOCH ’94

Hey Old One,

It's been a few weeks since the new kid got here, and I just wanted to check in with you. How are you doing? I try to give you the same amount of attention as always, but Labrador retriever was this kid really keeps me on my toes. nearing the end of his life You aren't being replaced. As Guy de la Valdene wrote, "No one can have the part of and Hoch began training the me I give to my dogs." And this newcomer can't have the part of me or my heart that puppy that would succeed belongs to you. him, he struggled with the You can't be replaced. transition. He came to terms You deserve these last months to have peace, quiet, and comfort. But I have to be with it through this letter to selfish. I define myself‑and most people identify me‑by my dog. In grad school with your his old friend. predecessor, most of the neighbors didn't know my name but did know "the guy with the bin‑ oculars and the big brown dog." If that's all people know about me, that's fine.

You only overlapped with your predecessor by two weeks. That was cutting it too close. Me without a dog would be like a body without a soul. Lost.

For the last few months you've been more interested in your spot on the couch than being my shadow, than following me like you've done for the past decade. I miss "I'm torn between my past you by my side.

I do worry terribly about the near future. For this first month, those and future." short little stubs the new guy thinks are legs have kept pace with your long tired legs. But those little nubs are going to grow longer and stronger as your legs and joints grow slower and gimpier. In a few short weeks I'll find myself waiting for you behind me while the pup surges ahead of me.

I'm torn between my past and future. Worst yet will be that first road trip when you stay behind and the kid comes along. I honestly can't tell you how hard that will be for me. ' ' vu moments have caught me between a laugh and a tear. I laugh Lately, a lot of deja when the kid does something that reminds me of you at that age. The tears come when you look at me the way your predecessor did when you were the kid's age and equally obnoxious. What happened soon after those looks is still too painful.

At this point in our lives and relationship, I don't have the right to ask any favors of you. You've given me more than I can ever repay. But can I ask you to give the kid a chance? He's pretty cute... when he's asleep.

But when his old

GREG HOCH is Prairie Habitat Team Supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Letter to an Old Friend” is excerpted and reprinted with permission from Just Labs magazine.

64 | WABASH MAGAZINE

VOICES

REASONING IN

HAVANA

by TIM PADGETT ’84

Havana, Cuba —Shortly after Barack Obama’s historic speech in Havana March 22, I met a smart, 34-year-old Cuban accountant named Kariel González in the Vedado district.

He’d listened to President Obama on the radio, and he was cheering the U.S. leader's last line—¡Sí Se Puede!—a Spanish rendering of his iconic campaign slogan, Yes We Can! González said he'd already heard Cubans repeat the soundbite on the sidewalks. “It’s the sort of thing that makes Obama so popular on the island,” he told me.

Meaning, ¡Sí Se Puede! is a hell of a lot cooler mantra than the dreary, Soviet-style mottos Cuba’s communist leaders have slathered on billboards and airwaves for half a century.

Like ¡Socialismo O Muerte!—Socialism Or Death! Now there’s a political jingle for the GroupMe generation!

Obama’s clever sign-off seemed to have emboldened Cubans like González to praise, out loud, the meatier content of the address— including Obama's remarkably direct call to Cuba’s President Raúl Castro to adopt democratic reforms.

PRESIDENT OBAMA, the First Lady, Malia, and Sasha greet dignitaries upon arrival in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, March 20, 2016.

(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

“You need not fear the different voices of the Cuban people,” Obama said, “and their capacity to speak, and assemble, and vote for their leaders.” For good measure he reminded Castro, “The Internet should be available across the island.”

González was all aboard. “I agree with the words [Obama] said about human rights,” he said, at the same moment Obama was meeting with Cuban political dissidents at the U.S. embassy a few blocks away. “We should be open to that debate here.”

Yet González isn’t what you’d call a dissident.

He still admires certain aspects of the revolution as much as he now admires Obama.

As we said goodbye, I asked him, since he likes radio, if he’d ever listened to Radio Martí, the U.S.-funded, Cuban exile-run broadcaster that transmits into Cuba.

He screwed up his nose the way he’d just done when we discussed Marxist propaganda.

“Heard it once,” he said. “Boring, man.”

Obama was right 15 months ago when he said it was time for the U.S. to try something besides isolating Cuba.

And there’s why Obama was right 15 months ago when he said it was time for the U.S. to try something besides isolating Cuba—and why his visit to the country, the first by a U.S. president in 88 years, was so important.

No one denies Cuban exile anger is justified.

But if you want the U.S. to influence change in Cuba, it seems more effective to have a magnetic American president making prodemocracy points inside Havana. It's at least more effective than beaming in tired anticommunist pamphleteering from Miami.

That couldn’t have been more obvious on Monday, March 21, when Obama and Castro held one of the more awkward press conferences in hemispheric history.

The day before, I'd watched as Castro’s police rounded up some 50 dissidents for holding their weekly street demonstration in Havana’s

Miramar district. It left Obama no choice but to address the human rights elephant in the room—and to let U.S. journalists prod Castro into addressing it.

Which the 84-year-old leader did in an almost doddering fashion that had to make every one of Cuba’s revolutionary dinosaurs cringe in their military fatigues.

It was just that stark contrast—a youthful, forward-looking Obama skating diplomatic figure eights around an entrenched, geriatric Castro—that Cuba’s communist leaders feared most about Obama’s visit.

And, most of all, about his speech.

Roses and Thorns

Obama’s biggest oratorical challenge was to navigate the Florida Straits between conciliatory outreach and critical shout-out. To extend a "white rose,” as he said in his opening line, quoting Cuban poet and independence hero José Martí, but one that still bore some thorns of bilateral disagreement.

And by most accounts he did so masterfully.

He did it by urging the U.S. Congress to lift the trade embargo—which he called “an outdated burden on the Cuban people”— while pointing out that authoritarian red tape continues to choke Cuba's economic and entrepreneurial potential.

He did it by praising revolutionary achievements like free schooling and doctoring—which Castro rightly identifies as human rights, too— while reminding Cubans that the marketplace of ideas so muffled in their country has led to achievements in the U.S. like civil rights and Obama’s election as the first black president.

It will still take quite a while for Cubans to see the change Obama waxed about. But before his visit it really did seem to most of them that their only option was “socialism or death.”

Or leaving.

On March 22 something vastly different got beamed in.

And it wasn’t boring, man.

TIM PADGETT is Americas Correspondent for WLRN-Miami Herald News in Miami, FL. “Is Reasoning In Havana More Effective Than Railing From Miami? Sí!” is reprinted with permission from WLRN-Miami Herald News.

SPRING 2016 | 65

VOICES

Commitment In which Wabash students on an immersion learning experience in South Africa encounter a national hero.

The service was held in a small ancillary chapel with seating for about 40 attendees. After a few minutes of waiting, and a reminder by the other priest assisting with the service to silence our cell phones, Bishop Desmond Tutu appeared.

He wasn’t a large man—in fact, quite the opposite—but he commanded the room when he entered.

He conducted the service in three languages, English, Xhosa, and Afrikaans, and used each during his invitation for communion.

His prayers were worldly—he thanked America for jazz, criticizing it for its demons, and asked all of us to pray for Beirut and Paris, recently shattered by terrorist attacks.

The most striking thing about Tutu was that he broke from the script of monolingual, mostly Bible-centered services that we are so accustomed to in America. Here was the man awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The man who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that helped to draw the so-called “Rainbow Nation” back together. He was so committed to a unified South Africa that he wove his countrymen’s contrasting cultures into a single sermon for the morning.

He drew on three very different traditions and languages in a way that was breathtaking.

—Derek Andre ’16 COLIN THOMPSON ’17 won the 2016 Best News Photo award from the Indiana Collegiate Press Association for capturing this moment between a religious protester and a Wabash student during the Fall 2015. Wabash students defused the situation by listening, carrying on conversations, and bringing water to the protesters. The Bachelor earned 25 awards from ICPA, the most in the paper's history.

Moon Poem #4 I wanted a friend to wait with me: Cold Moon—who could be better?

Those scars on your back tell silent tales of suffering (though they could be continents) Old friend, I feel those stains of grey bleeding from my being too.

Under my cap, I know I am crazy.

I pity all these ordinary fellows, night after night they pass by you— I’m starting to listen.

—Stephen Batchelder ’15

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Why We Are Here She stood looking out the doorway Poised to step next into whatever comes next.

Although I knew that I could not go with her I could keep her company while waiting, Bear witness to the preparing, And maybe rub her tired shoulders Which I know is absolutely nothing And absolutely everything, Maybe that is why we are here: To rub shoulders and play cards, To be a place to launch, And a place to land, To murmur on the phone late at night, And to say, “This I love” And “This I saw.”

—Carrie Newcomer Reprinted with permission from A Permeable Life: Poems and Essays. An American singer, songwriter, and author, Carrie performed in concert in February as a guest of the College’s Visiting Artists Series. She is married to Robert Meitus ’88.

FACULTY NOTES

“ Everything that I do has this sense of adventure.”

Bringing the Lab to Life L

on Porter was born the year Star Wars arrived at movie theaters, a fact he offers up in the first minute of the interview for this article.

And that tells you more than you might think about the 2016 winner of the McLean-McTurnan-Arnold Award for Excellence in Teaching.

“When I was a kid, Star Wars got me really excited about science fiction, and that carried over to chemistry,” says Porter, an associate professor of chemistry and director of the College’s 3D Printing and Fabrication Center (3DPFC) who has taught at Wabash for 13 years.

“Everything that I do I has this sense of adventure.”

“Lon brings the lab to life for our students, our prospective students, for countless Crawfordsville school children in his volunteer work,” says Dean of the College Scott Feller. “But he does so most intensely for the dozens of research interns who have begun careers as scientists in his research lab, careers that have continued for many at the most prestigious PhD programs in the country.”

“There is something attractive about going on a journey, on an adventure, whether it be in the classroom, or in a research project, or a game,” says Porter. “It gets me excited, and when that happens I’m willing to put the whatever work it takes into I'm doing to make it go forward. That's a central theme in my life, in whatever we do.”

Colleagues and students in chemistry witness Porter’s sense of adventure daily, but it spread to the rest of the campus when his interest in 3D printing led to the creation of the 3DPFC last year.

Convinced 3D printing presented “a Sputnik moment” in science education with great opportunities for Wabash and students, Porter spent most of the previous summer and a lot of his own money building a printer and testing materials before he took the idea to Dean Feller. Quickly involving students in the journey, he began collaborating with the Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship, presented the technology to a captivated alumni audience at the 2015 Faculty/Alumni Symposium, and earned a grant from the Independent Colleges of Indiana/Ball Brothers Venture Fund to establish the 3DPFC.

The work has become a creative force across campus and in Porter’s classroom.

“3D printing has allowed me to strike out on an intellectual adventure into an area of study pretty far from my chemistry background,” he says. “Digital design affected the way I approach problem solving in ways I also put to use in my more traditional chemistry research and in the classroom and teaching lab.”

Porter is grateful for those who taught him, especially his high school science teacher.

“In the high school classroom, Daniel Hambaum was making things explode, doing reactions that would change in all these different colors, sending little dish soap bottle rockets across the classroom. It was just stuff I had never seen before.

“There’s a sort of magic there when you don't understand what's going on. Now, some people will say, ‘Well, once you know how it works, then it's not so magical anymore.’ I would very strongly disagree with that.”

Porter has published more than 20 research papers, while earning six grants or research fellowships and serving as a reviewer for the Journal of Chemical Education. But teaching is primary for him.

“When people ask me what I am, I tell them I’m a teacher first.

I’m a chemist, sure. And I love to do research. But my identity as a teacher comes first. So to be recognized with the College’s highest teaching honor is a dream come true.”

Watch the College’s 3D printer at work—and listen to Porter on the Wabash On My Mind podcast—at WM Online.

SPRING 2016 | 67

FACULTY NOTES

Not So Gently Down the Stream Christie Byun’s research and new book on how technology is changing the music industry were sparked by her students.

Professor Christie Byun asks students in her introduction to economics class: “How do you listen to music, and what are you listening to?”

“Students are always on the cutting edge of what’s trendy, what’s going to be the next great hit,” Byun says. “And the way they listen to music has changed over the years.”

That change caught Byun off guard during her first years at Wabash when she learned that one of her students was saving up for Metallica’s latest album.

“I thought, I should go buy this thing for him, and Easter is coming up, so why not? I gave him the CD and he was really pleased, but it was almost like he didn’t know what to do with it.”

The student had previously always downloaded music. This was the first CD he had ever received. That realization sparked the idea for Byun’s freshman tutorial, “The Economics of the Popular Music Industry.”

Byun’s previous research centered on the theory of habit formation and household consumption; bringing her expertise to bear on the music industry proved fertile and fascinating ground. Her new book, The Economics of the Popular Music Industry: Modelling from Microeconomic Theory and Industrial Organization, was published earlier this year by Palgrave Macmillan.

“FOR AN ECONOMIST, MUSIC IS SO INTERESTING—the way it is produced and consumed has changed so radically over the years,” Byun says. She recalls visiting record stores as a child with her father once a month to buy a new album.

“We would look at the LP cover, read about the composer and the musicians,” she says.

“I remember vividly watching him drop the needle on the vinyl, seeing it spin, hearing the music come out of the speakers. It was an event you could all enjoy together.

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A Power Asymmetry

"I remember vividly watching him drop the needle on the vinyl, seeing it spin, hearing the music come out of the speakers. It was an event you could all enjoy together, your attention only on the music."

“Nowadays when I see students listening to music, it’s typically on headphones. At least it’s not the cheap earbuds—they’re using better headphones. But it’s not the communal activity it used to be.”

The shift to downloadable and streaming music has shaken up the industry. Technology makes it easier for more musicians to produce and potentially distribute their music.

But just because it’s a great time to make music doesn’t mean you’ll get paid for it.

“Technology makes the process cheaper, but it’s still really challenging for musicians to make a living out of their craft, because technology has also made it easier for people to pirate their stuff,” Byun says.

“You’re not going to make a lot of money selling albums, so the bulk of your income has to come from live performances. David Bowie called it back in the day in a New York Times interview, when he said music was going to become like electricity. You flip a switch and there it is, practically for nothing.”

Byun wonders how much better this is for musicians than in the past, when signing with a record company meant a band might become, as Jacob Slichter wrote in So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, “rock and roll sharecroppers?”

“A lot of musicians and bands are saying, ‘Forget the old model and the big record labels.

We can record and promote our own album online and through social media and YouTube.’

For example, Radiohead gave their album In Rainbows away with a tip-jar system—people could pay whatever they wanted to pay.”

Ani DiFranco provided another model by establishing her own label, and many artists turn to crowdfunding.

“DiFranco is really independent‑minded, and the music she wrote wasn’t likely to become very mainstream, so that definitely suited her temperament and career,” Byun says. “But it’s not going to work for everybody. It’s a difficult business; it’s a lonely business. It’s a risky business either way you go.”

photo by Kim Johnson

While writing this story the editor was listening to the Beatles classic Abbey Road. With the current focus on a hit single, would such an album—particularly the innovative “medley” that concludes side two—even be considered today? What do you think?

—charless@wabash.edu

When Prince died in April, WM asked Professor Byun about his impact on the production and consumption of popular music.

She responded: Huge!

Not only his influence on musical creativity, but also in the way that the industry conducted business.

He fought Warner Brothers for years over the terms of his contract, and he referred to his signing with a record company as “slavery.” I believe he changed his name to that symbol as a sort of a protest against his label.

He’s the prime example of a big name artist who was chafing under the dictates of a contract he signed before he was famous. It’s a power asymmetry— when musicians are unknowns, they have no negotiating power.

If they hit it big, they can’t get out of their contracts or even renegotiate them.

PROFESSOR BYUN discusses the music industry and her recent travels to Egypt to study the Arab Spring in a Wabash On My Mind podcast at WM Online.

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FACULTY NOTES

“Fantastic and Wonderfully Different”

Professor of Physics Dennis Krause says the truth about our universe— particularly at the atomic level of many of today’s important scientific breakthroughs—really is stranger than fiction.

He knows this better than most.

A voracious reader and short story writer, Krause is also a theoretical physicist whose research looks at quantum mechanics, unstable particles, and the search for new dimensions. During a passionate, personal, and inspiring 36th Charles D. LaFollette Lecture in the Humanities last fall, he delivered the wonders of that “fantastic and wonderfully different” quantum world to the doorstep of his fellow professors in theology, philosophy, literature, art, classics, music, and theater.

Read the lecture or watch the video at WM Online.

Exceptional Teacher-Scholars

In December, President Gregory Hess and Dean of the College Scott Feller announced the promotion and tenure of three members of the faculty.

DEBORAH SELTZER-KELLY

ADRIEL TROTT

Dean of the College Scott Feller: “Debbie is an exceptional mentor to students committing to the vocation of teaching, but we hear in comments from students across the College that she is an especially caring faculty member who is dedicated to the success of all students.”

Dean Feller: “Adriel helps students understand the central role of philosophy in a liberal arts education, bringing ancient philosophy into the modern era through engaging dialogue in her classes and through the development of courses in the philosophy of race and the philosophy of commerce.”

• Associate Professor of Education Studies • MA (History), PhD (Curriculum and Instruction), University of Nevada, Reno • Led the Chicago Urban Experience, and recent courses include Philosophy of Education, Diversity and Multicultural Education, and a freshman tutorial that used dance as a vehicle for exploration of 20th Century U.S. Culture.

Collaborates often with students—in 2014 Alexander Hernandez ’16 was her co-author for “Culture, Education, and Difference: Negotiating a Pedagogy of Shared Experience,” published in Hybrid Pedagogy.

• Associate Professor of Philosophy • MA, PhD (Philosophy), Villanova • Particularly interested in how philosophy can be brought to the public sphere; directs GLCA Ancient Philosophy Research and Teaching Collaborative Initiative; honorary member of the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies; focuses on ancient philosophy as a resource for diagnosing contemporary political life; teaches Philosophy of Commerce.

• Author, Aristotle on the Nature of Community, Cambridge University Press

PROFESSOR TROTT writes about change on page 73.

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Off the Presses

Labors of Love

" Widely Recognized and Respected"

“Rick Warner’s election as president, the excellent research and publishing work of [Wabash Professor] Stephen Morillo, and the fact that the most recent conference of the Midwest World History Association (MWWHA) was held on the Wabash campus, are all evidence that the College has become a widely recognized and respected center for academic and teaching excellence in the rapidly growing field of world history.”

– Former WHA President Craig Benjamin

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY RICK WARNER took office in January as president of the World History Association (WHA).

BRONWEN WICKKISER

• Associate Professor of Classics • MA (Latin) and PhD (Classics), University of Texas • A specialist in ancient Greek history and culture, especially the intersection between religion and medicine; teaches Ancient Greek Religion & Magic and Health Care in the Greco-Roman World; led immersion experiences to Greece and Italy; grants from research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and the Loeb Classical Library Foundation.

• Author, Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth-Century Greece, Johns Hopkins University Press • Co-creator of Web site, The Thymele: A Harmonics of Healing: www.thymeleofepidaurus.co.uk Dean Feller: Bronwen brings the ancient world to life for students. She helps them see the intersections between the ancient and modern worlds.

Students and colleagues see her as an innovator, one who takes the class out into the community.

Derek Nelson ’99 wrote or edited four books published in 2015, but Resilient Reformer is closest to his heart.

Begun by his mentor, the late Timothy Lull, the biography of Martin Luther was completed by Nelson after Lull’s unexpected death at age 60 from complications after surgery.

“Luther is alive on the pages of this intellectual biography that is both well researched and an engaging read,” writes Pacific Lutheran Professor of Lutheran History Kirsi Stjerna.

“Derek Nelson has brought to a commendable conclusion the original work of the late Dr. Lull.

A biography like this—focusing on the theological drama while presenting the very human Luther and his associates— fills a vacuum. Students and teachers alike will be happy to use this labor of love!”

“Tim worked on the biography for 20 years, and after he died, his widow asked me if I would finish it, and I've been working on it ever since,” Nelson explains. “I had students read a draft of the manuscript in a Wabash class two years ago and they offered great feedback before it was published.”

Internationally known expert on Luther and Roanoke College Professor Paul Hinlicky calls the book “an account that is genuinely significant, with an acute treatment of painful issues like Luther and the Jews but also endearing glimpses at Luther as a family man.

The book, in a unique way, blends the story of

Luther's traumatic life with a fresh interpretation of his thought. This makes the substantial book of flowing prose a pleasure to read.”

The cover art for the book was painted by prominent artist Brad Holland, whose work has appeared on magazine covers and in museums throughout the world. Holland was Tim Lull’s childhood best friend.

“When I called him to discuss the cover, Samuel L. Jackson was sitting in his studio being painted for the playbill of the Broadway debut of Selma, in which he plays Martin Luther King Jr.,” Nelson recalls.

Nelson also honored the legacy of his undergraduate mentor, Professor Bill Placher ’70, in 2015, updating a second edition of Placher’s Readings in the History of Christian Theology for Westminster John Knox.

His book One Hope: Re-Membering the Body of Christ—co-authored with Martha Stortz, and Jessica Wrobleski—was published

by Liturgical Press.

Read about more publications by Wabash faculty at WM Online.

SPRING 2016 | 71

FACULTY NOTES

SWITCHING GEARS

by RICHARD PAIGE Professor Eric Olofson had spent two years at Wabash getting his research on infants and cognitive development up and running when he encountered a problem: a baby shortage. There weren’t enough infants to study in Crawfordsville.

He needed to switch gears in order to get something published, but he worried about how the change would affect his chances for tenure.

Olofson got needed reassurance from then Dean of the College Gary Phillips, but it took awhile to shift his study to preschool-age children, and the tenure clock was ticking.

“It was an overwhelming feeling of stress,” Olofson says. “Gary was understanding, and that was critically important. I’m thankful it worked out, but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

Along his path to tenure, Olofson developed an immensely popular class on fatherhood that added yet another pre-tenure research interest. Olofson says seeing his students so passionate about the topic was invigorating.

“I never thought I would move in that direction,” Olofson explains. “It was the questions they asked about this, that, and the other thing that led me to subjects no one ever looked at. They told me that I should, so I am.”

Olofson earned tenure in 2014 and spent last year on sabbatical. He says the experience made him more innovative in the lab and in class because it gave him time to think. It allowed him to ask more questions and look at ways to do things differently.

“It was absolutely critical to have that time to reflect,” he says. “It helped my research, but I was also able to bring that research into the classroom. This time teaching Fatherhood was easily the most coherent from beginning to end and brought about the best classroom conversations we’d ever had.”

72 | WABASH MAGAZINE

“In grad school, I didn’t so much plan for tenure as I dreamed of it being dragged in by unicorns and serenaded by leprechauns and fairies.”

Olofson’s journey has come full circle, such that the stress and worries of the tenure process are behind him and only results lie ahead.

“In grad school, I didn’t so much plan for tenure as I dreamed of it being dragged in by unicorns and serenaded by leprechauns and fairies.” The Pacific Northwest native laughs.

“It was this fantastical idea, something you strive for in the future. At the time, my daily concerns were simply, Is this study going to work?”

Hear Professor Olofson discuss fatherhood, kids, and today’s Wabash students on the Wabash On My Mind podcast at WM Online.

On Personal Change

I turn 40 today. Forget the cult of youth, I’m glad to be this old, to have the experience and the confidence of this age…

Really, I feel like I am more and more myself. This is 40.

Last year I was thinking about what other people had accomplished by my age and thinking that I had a lot to do. With this milestone birthday, I’m thinking about all the people who didn’t do the things we know them for until my age or later. At 40: PROFESSOR OLOFSON helps Cora Paige navigate

photos by Kim Johnson

a task in his lab that investigates how fathers help children overcome challenges.

• Julia Child was still working in advertising; • Samuel L. Jackson had yet to be in a movie; • Jane Lynch had yet to be recognized as the talent she is; • Kathy Bates was just gearing up to star in Misery; • Lucille Ball had yet to make an episode of I Love Lucy; • Stan Lee had just published his first comic book; • Charles Darwin published his first book; • Vera Wang was not yet a designer; • Henry Ford had not yet designed a car; • Rodney Dangerfield did not get respect for five more years; • Bram Stoker wouldn’t publish Dracula for ten more years; • Hans-Georg Gadamer had yet to publish Truth and Method; • George Eliot had yet to publish a novel.

I’m finding that age itself might bring more possibility than loss of potential.

—ADRIEL TROTT, excerpted from The Trott Line: https://adrieltrott.com

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END NOTES

In Memory of Hall Peebles H’63

HAZING AND THE PHARAOH’S BURDEN My pledge brothers and I were, in many respects, undergoing a highly miniaturized version of Egyptian captivity.

by RICHARD GUNDERMAN ’83

I

t was Halloween night 1979. The “immortal 27”—my 26 pledge brothers and I—were asleep in the freshman cold dorm of the Fiji house. The stillness was interrupted by creepy sounds off in the distance—doors creaking, mournful bells tolling, spine-tingling screams of torture victims. As the minutes passed, the volume progressively increased until no one was asleep any longer. Someone went to investigate. The upperclassmen had planted large stereo speakers just outside the door and were piping in their most bloodcurdling soundtrack.

Then hell seemed to break loose—pots and pans banging, people shouting, general chaos.

Before we knew it, the 27 of us were lined up down in the basement of the house, undergoing a marine drill sergeant–style rebuke for a variety of code infractions, both real and imagined. The house wasn’t clean, pledges had not aced a test of fraternity history, one of us did not know the names of all the brothers’ girlfriends, and someone else had failed to answer the phone by the third ring. In short, we were not measuring up—we were a disgrace to the house, the fraternity, and the College.

Such dressings–down were a regular feature of our first semester of college life, and they continued well into second. We were told that this was the price we had to pay for membership in such an august organization. Clicking the brothers into the dining room, standing up on chairs at lunch to recite various texts from the fraternity handbook, and remaining on campus after finals for “hell week” to make the house shine—again and again, they said, we would look back on these nuisances and

74 | WABASH MAGAZINE

assaults on our dignity as the happiest days of college life.

Besides, all the upperclassmen had endured the same rigors, and now it was our turn— “Now get back to your burdens!”

IT TOOK ME several decades to figure out what we were experiencing, but now I think I have it. That is thanks, in part, to what I learned in Professor Hall Peebles’ unforgettable class on the Old Testament. My pledge brothers and I were, in many respects, undergoing a highly miniaturized version of Egyptian captivity.

Like the Israelites who, under Joseph, had once rescued the Egyptians from starvation, we had been demoted from honored houseguests to Pharaoh’s slaves. Pharaoh had forgotten all the nice things he said about us during recruitment, and now he regarded us as nothing more than exploitable laborers whose very existence had become noisome.

Scrubbing the baseboards, waxing and rewaxing the tile floors, and polishing the kitchen to a shine, we were chattel, laboring in obscurity to maintain Pharaoh’s edifices— and collecting our own straw to bake bricks to boot! What mattered to Pharaoh was not the Israelites, but what the Israelites could be made to produce. To him, in Aristotle’s phrase, we were nothing more than human tools.

Moreover, we were numerous—nearly half the occupants of the house—and Pharaoh’s fear of an uprising made him loathe us all the more.

As pledges, we caught a whiff of slavery’s stink—subject to the arbitrary will of another, with no redress of grievances. We experienced the life of bureaucratic pawns, made to do

things that made no sense and then forced to endure nonsensical penances when they were not done right.

The house was supposed to be our home away from home, but many of us felt like exiles, people who didn’t belong, with no prospect of liberation or redemption. When late one fall weekend we went on “walk out”— another obscure custom we were pressured to observe—our return precipitated only harsher punishments.

IN EGYPT, Pharaoh was god, and in the fraternity house, the brothers were demigods.

Yet, as the Israelites eventually came to realize, Pharaoh was not divine. Neither, we discovered, were the brothers. They enjoyed a measure of control, but the more ruthlessly they attempted to assert it, the more sharply into view came their fear that they would be found out. The more distressed we grew, the more questioning we did, and the more we questioned, the more apparent it became that hazing’s whole edifice rested on sandy soil.

We pledges were unorganized, had no plan, and subscribed to no coherent creed. But we intuited that something was deeply amiss.

We knew that it was wrong to treat other human beings—especially those you someday hoped to call “brother”—so callously. Sure, we made mistakes, and in many respects we failed more than once to measure up to reasonable expectations. But we were not scum of the earth, and the insistence on treating us as such only brought more sharply into view the logs in the brothers’ eyes.

YOU MISSED IT!

Can you match the photos below with their stories in this issue?

EVENTUALLY, the Israelites groaned under Pharaoh’s burdens, and their cries were heard. In our case, they were heard neither by the administration of the College nor by the leadership of the fraternity, but by what burned in the heart of nearly every occupant of the fraternity house. We had at last seen through Pharaoh, his nakedness had been made visible, and the fires of fear he had worked all fall semester so hard to fan were finally sputtering out. It had been replaced by a new kind of fire, not entirely unlike the fire of a ceaselessly burning bush that never consumes itself.

The more we questioned, the more apparent it became that hazing’s whole edifice rested on a rather sandy foundation.

1

A story of subjugation and servitude had been replaced by a new narrative, a new myth, one in which we were every bit as human—in senses both bad and good—as our captors.

They could not rule over us because they were not above us—in fact, in some cases, their desperation to maintain control had only brought them low. We had been called to a new and different identity, the role of free men, of brothers, with all the privileges and duties thereunto appertaining. In short, the curtain had been lifted, and a new day—initiation day—had dawned.

Our discontent had opened our eyes and shown us a way out of bondage. Only one question remained: Would we, too, the very next fall, assume the mantle of oppressor?

GUNDERMAN is professor of radiology, pediatrics, medical education, philosophy, liberal arts, philanthropy, and medical humanities and health studies at Indiana University. He is a contributing writer to The Atlantic and a frequent contributor to WM. His newest book, We Come to Life with Those We Serve, is due out later this year from IU Press.

2

3 If they don’t look familiar, it’s because some great images don’t make it to the print edition. See them (and video, audio, and extended stories) at WM Online: wabash.edu/magazine/ ANSWERS: 1. Revolution, page 24; 2. Making It Rea, page 29; 3. In Memory, page 61.

SPRING 2016 | 75

Wabash M A G A Z I N E

P.O. Box 352 Crawfordsville, Indiana 47933-0352 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

LAST GLANCE A New Home for Wabash Men—Professor Emeritus of English Tobey Herzog H’08, his wife, Peggy, and their son, Joe, stand proudly in front of Williams Hall and South Lodge during the dedication of the College’s new Residential Life District on May 14.

Joe Herzog was one of the architects of the project, which opened for students in January.

See photos from the dedication at WM Online. photo by Kim Johnson

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

P AI D

WABASH COLLEGE